Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A fragrant crystalline compound, C9H6O2, extracted from several plants, such as tonka beans and sweet clover, or produced synthetically and widely used in perfumes.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A vegetable proximate principle (C9H9O2) obtained from the Dipteryx (Coumarouna) odorata or Tonka bean, and also occurring in melilot and some other plants, to which it gives its characteristic odor. It has been used in medicine, and it gives flavor to the Swiss cheese called
schabzieger . Also spelledcumarin .
Wiktionary
- n. organic chemistry the bicyclic aromatic compound 1,2-benzopyrone or any of its derivatives
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Chem.) The concrete essence of the tonka bean, the fruit of Dipterix (formerly Coumarouna) odorata and consisting essentially of coumarin proper, which is a white crystalline substance, C9H6O2, of vanilla-like odor, regarded as an anhydride of coumaric acid, and used in flavoring. Coumarin in also made artificially.
Etymologies
- French coumarine, from coumarou, tonka bean tree, from Spanish coumarú, from Portuguese cumaru, from Tupi cumarú, commaru. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The aromatic compound in bison grass is called coumarin.”
“Cassia has a chemical called coumarin which could be toxic.”
“Professor Link isolated the hemorrhaging agent, an anticoagulant called coumarin, in spoiled sweet clover hay.”
“Dr. Hockman isolated a substance called coumarin from the leaves of gliricidia.”
“A principle called coumarin exists abundantly in the flowers of the melilotus, and it possesses an odor which is attributed to the presence of benzoic acid.”
“The flowers contain "coumarin," and their volatile pollen impregnates the atmosphere in early summer.”
“The agreeable odour of this sweet Woodruffe is due to a chemical principle named "coumarin," which powerfully affects the brain; and the plant further contains citric, malic, and rubichloric acids, together with some tannic acid.”
“Zu, produced in conjunction with Rémy Cointreau, is available without coumarin.”
The Huffington Post: Organic Authority.com: Possibly the Best Autumn Cocktail Ever
“Zu, produced in conjunction with Rémy Cointreau, is available without coumarin.”
The Huffington Post: Organic Authority.com: Possibly the Best Autumn Cocktail Ever
“In America your options for true Zubrówka are limited: FDA regulations ban the use of the naturally occurring chemical compound coumarin in foods.”
The Huffington Post: Organic Authority.com: Possibly the Best Autumn Cocktail Ever
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘coumarin’.
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1406 more...
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Another day, a whole nother list
rump, spot on, flank, outflank, rank, bedeck, leafhopper, apocope, academic, set-to, point of no return, cloy and 210 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for coumarin.

knitandpurl "Meanwhile, Dr Schweitzer was reaching a conclusion, and briefly mentioned that Perkin was, predictably by this stage, very much responsible for the way women smelt, having once formed coumarin from coal-tar, which led to artificial musk, and then to the artificial production of the scents of violets, roses, jasmine and the 'smell of the year' — oil of wintergreen."
Mauve by Simon Garfield, p 10 of the Norton paperback edition Mar 28, 2012
slumry A fragrant crystalline substance derived from Galium odorata and other plants. Tonka bean is another source of the substance. Jul 18, 2007