What does cocain mean?
Cocain is an obsolete spelling of cocaine, the crystalline alkaloid derived from the leaves of the South American coca plant. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when the drug was legal and widely studied, medical journals and pharmacopoeias frequently printed it as 'cocain', following German scientific usage of the era. The substance was prized as one of the first effective local anaesthetics — pioneering eye and dental surgery — before its addictive properties became fully understood and strict controls were imposed. Today the spelling survives mainly in historical documents, digitised archives, and older translations, while all contemporary medical, legal, and everyday writing uses the standard form 'cocaine'. Readers encountering 'cocain' should treat it not as a different substance but as a window into how scientific nomenclature evolves alongside society's changing relationship with a drug.
nounAn obsolete spelling of cocaine: a crystalline alkaloid obtained from coca leaves, used historically as a local anaesthetic and now a controlled stimulant drug.
- A former spelling of cocaine, the alkaloid stimulant drug derived from coca leaves, once widely used in medicine as a local anaesthetic.
"The old pharmacopoeia listed cocain among its approved surgical anaesthetics."
"Freud's early papers on cocain helped spread interest in the drug across European medicine."
"The chemist carefully measured out a grain of cocain for the eye operation."
As an uncountable mass noun referring to the substance, it normally has no plural; a plural would only appear in rare technical contexts referring to distinct preparations or salts.
"Various cocains and their salts were catalogued in the old formulary."
Before it was a street drug, this spelling appeared in Victorian medical textbooks prescribing it as a wonder anaesthetic.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cocain
The word derives from 'coca', the name of the Andean shrub, which English took from Spanish, itself borrowed from the Quechua word 'kuka'. The alkaloid was isolated from coca leaves in the mid-nineteenth century, and the '-ine' ending reflects the standard chemical suffix for alkaloids. The spelling 'cocain' reflects German-influenced chemical nomenclature of the period and was common in English scientific literature before 'cocaine' became the settled form.
How cocain is actually used
This spelling is archaic; modern medical, legal, and general writing uses 'cocaine'. It may appear in nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century texts.
Easily confused with cocain
Cocain is simply a former or variant spelling; the modern standard spelling is cocaine.