CATNIP Meaning of CATNIP in English ■ noun another term for catmint .OriginC18 (orig. US): from cat 1 + nip , var. of dialect nep , nept , from med. L. nepta , from L. nepeta 'catmint'. Concise Oxford English vocab. Сжатый оксфордский словарь английского языка. 2004