A substance or agent that causes excitement or stimulation in the body or mind.
From Latin 'excitare' (to rouse up), formed from 'ex-' (out) + 'citare' (to set in motion). The suffix '-ant' denotes an agent or substance that performs an action. The term emerged in medical and physiological contexts during the 18th-19th centuries.
Excitants include everything from caffeine to certain hormones—basically anything that wakes up your nervous system. Historically, doctors used this term to classify substances before they understood the actual chemistry of how nerves work.
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