Etymology

nicotine

N1I1C3O1T1I1N1E1

Today it means: An alkaloid (C₁₀H₁₄N₂), commonly occurring in the tobacco plant. Full definition →

French nicotine
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The story

  1. FrenchNicot
  2. Frenchnicotine
  3. English todaynicotine

Borrowed from French nicotine, equivalent to Nicot + -ine, named after Jean Nicot (1530–1604), the French ambassador to Portugal, who sent tobacco seeds back to France in 1561. The etymology of the surname itself is unclear.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.