# alcohol
## English
### Etymology

First attested in the 15 century from Middle English alcofol, from Middle French alcohol or Spanish alcohol, derived from the Medieval Latin rendering alcohol transmitted in medical or alchemical literature of Arabic اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl, “kohl”), which in Andalusian Arabic also bore the form كُحُول (kuḥūl), قُحُول (quḥūl); bearing thus the meaning of stibnite first, then generalized in meaning to a powder obtained by triturating a material, then also to liquids obtained by boiling down, and specialized to mean spirit of wine, ethanol, in the 18th century, then the narrow chemical sense after 1850. Doublet of alcool and kohl.
* Bartholomew Traheron in his 1543 translation of John of Vigo introduces the word as a term used by "barbarous" (Moorish) authors for "fine powder": the barbarous auctours use alcohol, or (as I fynde it sometymes wryten) alcofoll, for moost fine poudre.
* William Johnson in his 1657 Lexicon Chymicum glosses the word as antimonium sive stibium. By extension, the word came to refer to any fluid obtained by distillation, including "alcohol of wine", the distilled essence of wine.
* Libavius in Alchymia (1594) has vini alcohol vel vinum alcalisatum.
* Johnson (1657) glosses alcohol vini as quando omnis superfluitas vini a vino separatur, ita ut accensum ardeat donec totum consumatur, nihilque fæcum aut phlegmatis in fundo remaneat.
* Some authorities, including Rachel Hajar, suggest that the ultimate etymon was the Arabic term اَلْغَوْل (al-ḡawl, “bad effect, evil result of headache”) (as used in Qur’an verse 37:47, but this word is rather poetical and could for topical reasons not have been picked up from Arabic by Medieval writers, and aside from that the relation to stibium is well documented.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈæl.kə.hɒl/
* (US) IPA: /ˈæl.kə.hɔl/, /ˈæl.kə.hɑl/
** (US, nonstandard) IPA: /ˈɑl.kə.hɔl/, /ˈɑl.kə.hɑl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Hyphenation: al‧co‧hol

### Noun

alcohol (countable and uncountable, plural alcohols)
* (organic chemistry, countable) Any of a class of organic compounds (such as ethanol) containing a hydroxyl functional group (-OH).
* (pharmacology, colloquial) Ethanol.
* (uncountable) Beverages containing ethanol, collectively.
** 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins.
* (obsolete) Any very fine powder.

#### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:alcoholic beverage

#### Derived terms

* absolute alcohol
* acetic alcohol
* alcohol abuse
* alcohol addiction
* alcoholaemia
* alcoholase
* alcoholate
* alcohol burner
* alcohol by volume
* alcohol dehydrogenase
* alcohol enema
* alcohol flush reaction
* alcohol-free
* alcoholic
* alcoholicity
* alcoholiday
* alcohol intoxication
* alcoholism
* alcoholization
* alcoholize
* alcoholless
* alcoholly
* alcoholmeter
* alcohologist
* alcohology
* alcohololysis
* alcoholomania
* alcoholometer
* alcoholometric
* alcoholometry
* alcoholophilia
* alcohol poisoning
* alcohol-related dementia
* alcohol use disorder
* alcohol withdrawal syndrome
* alcoholy
* alcoholysis
* alcolock
* alcopop
* alcotest
* alcotourism
* alkoxyalcohol
* alkyl
* allyl alcohol
* amino alcohol
* amyl alcohol
* antialcohol
* azidoalcohol
* benzyl alcohol
* bioalcohol
* butyl alcohol
* cetyl alcohol
* chloral
* coniferyl alcohol
* denatured alcohol
* deoxy sugar alcohol
* diesohol
* epoxyalcohol
* ethyl alcohol
* fatty alcohol
* fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
* fetal alcohol syndrome
* fluoroalcohol
* foetal alcohol syndrome
* fusel alcohol
* gasahol
* gasohol
* grain alcohol
* haloalcohol
* hold one's alcohol
* -holic
* -holism
* isoamyl alcohol
* isopropyl alcohol
* ketoalcohol
* lauryl alcohol
* low-alcohol
* methal
* methyl alcohol
* neopentyl alcohol
* neutral alcohol
* no-alcohol
* nonalcohol
* nonalcoholic
* non-alcoholic
* -ol
* perillyl alcohol
* phenethyl alcohol
* polyalcohol
* polyhydric alcohol
* polyvinyl alcohol
* polyvinylalcohol
* prealcohol
* primary alcohol
* propargyl alcohol
* propyl alcohol
* rubbing alcohol
* secondary alcohol
* sugar alcohol
* sulfur alcohol
* sulphur alcohol
* tertiary alcohol
* thioalcohol
* unit of alcohol
* vinous alcohol
* wood alcohol
* wood-alcohol

#### Descendants

* → Arabic: كُحُول (kuḥūl)
* → Korean: 알코올 (alkool), 알콜 (alkol)
* → Malay: alkohol
* → Swahili: alkoholi
* → Tok Pisin: alkohol

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### References

* ↑ “Etymology of Alcohol”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎, 2008 December 31 (last accessed), archived from the original on 10 June 2011
* ↑ Nicolae Sfetcu, Health & Drugs: Disease, Prescription & Medication (2014)

## Asturian
### Noun

alcohol m (plural alcoholes)
* alcohol

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [əl.kuˈɔl]
* IPA: (Balearic) [əl.koˈɔl]
* IPA: (Valencia) [al.koˈɔl]
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

alcohol m (plural alcohols)
* (organic chemistry, countable) alcohol
* (uncountable) alcohol

#### Related terms

* alcohòlic
* alcoholisme

#### Further reading

* “alcohol” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

## Dutch
### Alternative forms

* alkohol (superseded)

### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin alcohol or Spanish alcohol, of Arabic origin.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɑl.koːˌɦɔl/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: al‧co‧hol

### Noun

alcohol m (plural alcoholen)
* (countable, organic chemistry) alcohol (class of compounds)
* (uncountable) alcohol (ethanol specifically)
    De suikers worden omgezet in alcohol. ― The sugars are converted into alcohol.
* (uncountable) alcoholic beverages, collectively
    Synonym: drank
    Hyponym: sterke drank
    Hij zit iets te vaak aan de alcohol. ― He drinks alcoholic beverages a bit too often.

#### Derived terms

* alcoholica
* alcoholicus
* alcoholisch
* alcoholiseren
* alcoholisme
* alcoholist
* alcoholpercentage
* alcoholslot
* alcoholvergunning
* alcoholverslaafd
* alcoholverslaving
* schoonmaakalcohol

#### Related terms

* -ol

#### Descendants

* Afrikaans: alkohol
* → Indonesian: alkohol
* → Japanese: アルコール (arukōru)
** → Pohnpeian: ahrkohl

## French
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

alcohol m (plural alcohols)
* (rare) Alternative spelling of alcool

## Galician
### Alternative forms

* alcol
* álcool (reintegrationist)

### Noun

alcohol m (plural alcohois)
* alcohol

#### Related terms

* alcohólico
* alcoholismo

#### Further reading

* “alcohol”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

## Interlingua
### Noun

alcohol (uncountable)
* alcohol (ethanol)

#### Related terms

* alcoholic

## Latin
### Etymology

From Andalusian Arabic اَلْكُحُول (al-kuḥūl), اَلْقُحُول (al-quḥūl), earlier اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl, “kohl”). Ultimately from Akkadian.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈal.ko.hol/, [ˈäɫ̪ko(ɦ)ɔɫ̪]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈal.ko.ol/, [ˈälkoːl]

### Noun

alcohol n (genitive alcohōlis); third declension
* (Medieval Latin) kohl, collyrium, stibium
* (Medieval Latin) any other powder obtained from triturating a material
    alcohol ferrī ― rubbed file dust of iron
* (Medieval Latin) distilled essence, spirit
* (Medieval Latin) alcohol

#### Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

#### Derived terms

* alcoholicus

#### Descendants

* → Albanian: alkool
* → Armenian: ալկոհոլ (alkohol)
* → Asturian: alcohol
* → Catalan: alcohol
* → Dutch: alcohol, alkohol (superseded)
** Afrikaans: alkohol
** → Indonesian: alkohol
** → Japanese: アルコール (arukōru)
*** → Pohnpeian: ahrkohl
* → Esperanto: alkoholo
** → Ido: alkoholo
* → Old French: alcohol
** Middle French: alcohol
*** French: alcohol, alcool (see there for further descendants)
*** → Middle English: alcofol
**** English: alcohol (see there for further descendants)
* → Galician: alcohol
* → German: Alkohol (see there for further descendants)
* → Hebrew: אַלְכּוֹהוֹל
* → Interlingua: alcohol
* → Italian: alcool, alcol
* → Kazakh: алкоголь (alkogol)
* → Norwegian Bokmål: alkohol
* → Norwegian Nynorsk: alkohol
* → Portuguese: álcool
* → Romanian: alcool
* → Russian: алкоголь (alkogolʹ)
* → Serbo-Croatian: àlkohol/а̀лкохол
* → Slovak: alkohol
* → Slovene: alkohọ̑l
* → Ukrainian: алкоголь (alkoholʹ)
* → Spanish: alcohol
** → Basque: alkohol
** → Quechua: alkul

### References

* alcohol in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016

## Old French
### Noun

alcohol oblique singular, m (oblique plural alcohous or alcohox or alcohols, nominative singular alcohous or alcohox or alcohols, nominative plural alcohol)
* alcohol

#### Descendants

* Middle French: alcohol
** French: alcohol, alcool (see there for further descendants)
** → Middle English: alcofol
*** English: alcohol (see there for further descendants)

## Romanian
### Noun

alcohol m (plural alcoholi)
* Obsolete form of alcool.

#### Declension
### References

* alcohol in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

## Spanish
### Etymology

From Andalusian Arabic اَلْكُحُول (al-kuḥū́l), from Arabic اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl, “kohl”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (common) /alˈkol/ [alˈkol]
** Audio (Colombia):(file)
** Rhymes: -ol
* IPA: (careful speech) /alkoˈol/ [al.koˈol]
** Rhymes: -ol
* Syllabification: al‧co‧hol

### Noun

alcohol m (plural alcoholes)
* alcohol
* (mineralogy) galena
* (cosmetics) kohl, stibnite

#### Derived terms

* alcohol alílico
* alcohol amílico
* alcohol de madera
* alcohol de quemar
* alcohol etílico
* alcohol metílico
* alcoholar
* alcoholemia
* alcohólico
* alcoholimetría
* alcoholímetro
* alcoholismo
* alcoholista
* alcoholizar
* alcohómetro

#### Descendants

* → Basque: alkohol
* → Quechua: alkul

#### Further reading

* “alcohol”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Welsh
### Etymology

From English alcohol, from Middle French alcohol or Spanish alcohol, from the Medieval Latin rendering alcohol of Arabic اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl, “kohl”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈalkɔhɔl/

### Noun

alcohol m (plural alcoholau)
* (alcoholic beverages) alcohol
    Synonym: gwirf

#### Derived terms

* alcoholaidd (“alcoholic”)
* alcoholig (“alcoholic”)
* alcoholiaeth (“alcoholism”)
* dialcohol (“alcohol-free”)
* heb alcohol (“alcohol-free”)

#### Related terms

* diod feddwol (“intoxicating drink”)
* diod gadarn (“strong drink”)

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### References

* R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “alcohol”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies