catnip

(kăt'nĭp')
n.

1. A hairy aromatic perennial herb (Nepeta cataria) in the mint family, native to Eurasia and containing an aromatic oil to which cats are strongly attracted.
2. Any of various other mostly aromatic plants of the genus Nepeta, cultivated for their ornamental foliage and clusters of blue, lavender, or white flowers.

[CAT + nip, catnip (variant of nep , from Middle English nept, nep , from Old English nepte , from Latin nepeta, aromatic herb , perhaps of Etruscan origin).]

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For more information on catnip, visit Britannica.com.

Origin: 1712

Since the Middle Ages, the English had called it cat mint, because it belongs to the mint family, and because cats, domestic and wild, go wild for it. Since the late Middle Ages, the English had also called it nep. A recipe of about 1420 calls for seasoning "with persoley, sauge, ysope, savery, A little nep."

In America, in the eighteenth century, we nipped the nep and added the cat to make it catnip. The first evidence is from Massachusetts in 1712: "He boiled tansy, sage, hysop, and catnip in some of ye best wort." In this country, Nepeta cataria has been known as catnip ever since. Perhaps nip represents an attempt to make sense of the word; we can think of a cat nipping the plant, or being nipped by it.

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Read More Description Chemical Composition Pharmacology & Biological Activities Commercial Preparations Uses Toxicology

Source: Nepeta cataria L. (Family Lamiaceae).

Common/vernacular names: Catnep, catnip, and catmint.

Gray, hairy, erect, branched perennial, 40–100 cm high; leaves ovate, crenate, base cordate; 2–8 cm long; flowering in spike, white, tinged with purple; native to southern and eastern Europe; widely naturalized elsewhere in Europe and North America, Central Asia, and the Iranian plateaus; commercially harvested from naturalized populations in Virginia, North Carolina; cultivated in Washington, Europe, and Argentina. Part used is the flowering tops and the essential oil obtained from steam distillation.

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Catnip is an attractant to cats. The herb is a member of the valerian family. Another cousin to catnip is lamb's lettuce. See Masking Agent, Pet Palatability Flavors, Sensory Analysis.

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A plant in the mint family (Nepeta cataria) that contains the volatile terpenoid, nepetalactone. It has distinctive aromatic qualities that are particularly attractive to cats, inducing behavior that is variously described as sexual, playful, and sometimes as hallucinatory. Often included in stuffed toys marketed for the domestic cat. Used as a tea in Western herbal medicine.

For a list of words related to catnip, see:

• Herbaceous Plants

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See words rhyming with "catnip."