noun · verb · 3 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
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Received-Pronunciation:/kwɪˈniːn/
Received-Pronunciation:/ˈkwɪn.iːn/
General-American:/ˈkwaɪ.naɪn/
General-American:/ˈkwɪn.aɪn/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
General-American:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -iːn
rhymes with -aɪn (some pronunciations)
CMU ARPABET:K W AY1 N AY2 N
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
An alkaloid with the chemical formula C20H24N2O2, originally derived from cinchona bark (from plants of the genus Cinchona), used to treat malaria and as an ingredient of tonic water, which presents as a bitter colourless powder; also, a drug containing quinine or a chemical compound derived from it.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: medicine, pharmacology, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
verb
Meaning 2
To treat (someone) with quinine.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: quininize
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
a bitter alkaloid extracted from chinchona bark; used in malaria therapy
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: antimalarial, antimalarial drug
History
Etymology
The noun is either: * derived from Spanish quina (“quinine”) (a clipping of quinaquina (“Cinchona bark”)) + English -ine (suffix forming names of chemical substances, especially (among others) alkaloidal substances); or * borrowed from French quinine, from quin(quina) (“Cinchona bark”) + -ine (feminine form of -in (suffix forming nouns)). Spanish quinaquina and French quinquina are both derived from Quechua kina-kina, a reduplication of kina (“bark; (specifically) Cinchona bark”). The verb is derived from the noun.
Across languages
Translations
39 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Armenian:
քինին
(kʻinin)
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Bulgarian:
хинин
(hinin)
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Catalan:
quinina
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Chinese Mandarin:
奎寧 /奎宁
(kuíníng)
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Czech:
chinin
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Danish:
kinin
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Dutch:
kinine
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Esperanto:
kinino
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Esperanto:
ĥinino
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Faroese:
kinin
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Finnish:
kiniini
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
French:
quinine
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Galician:
quinina
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Georgian:
ქინინი
(kinini)
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
German:
Chinin
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Hausa:
kùnî
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Hebrew:
כִּינִין
(kinín)
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Hindi:
कुनैन
(kunain)
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Icelandic:
kínín
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Ido:
quinino
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Irish:
quinín
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Italian:
chinino
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Japanese:
キニーネ
(kinīne)
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Norwegian Bokmål:
kinin
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Norwegian Nynorsk:
kinin
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Polish:
chinina
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Portuguese:
quinina
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Portuguese:
quinino
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Romanian:
chinină
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Russian:
хини́н
(xinín)
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Serbo-Croatian:
кѝнӣн
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
Serbo-Croatian:
kìnīn
— alkaloid used to treat malaria
