Standard Lemma guide

menthol

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈmɛnθɒl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: M EH1 N TH AO0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A cyclic monoterpene alcohol; the major component of the essential oil of peppermint; used in pharmaceutical preparations as an antitussive and antipruritic agent, as a nasal decongestant, and in menthol cigarettes.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A menthol cigarette.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a lotion containing menthol which gives it the smell of mint

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: lotion, application

4

noun

Meaning 4

a crystalline compound that has the cool and minty taste and odor that occurs naturally in peppermint oil; used as a flavoring and in medicine to relieve itching, pain, and nasal congestion

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: compound, chemical compound

History

Etymology

From Latin mentha (“mint”) + -ol.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Chinese Mandarin: 薄荷醇 (bòhé chún) — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Czech: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Danish: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Dutch: menthol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Esperanto: mentolo — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Finnish: mentoli — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • German: Menthol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Greek: μινθόλη (minthóli) — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Greek: μενθόλη (menthóli) — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Greek: μεντόλ (mentól) — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Italian: mentolo — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Japanese: メントール (mentōru) — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Japanese: 薄荷脳 (hakkanō) — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Norwegian Bokmål: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Polish: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Portuguese: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Romanian: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Russian: менто́л (mentól) — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Spanish: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol
  • Swedish: mentol — cyclic monoterpene alcohol