1670s, "of or like sugar, having the qualities of sugar," from Medieval Latin saccharum "sugar," from Latin saccharon "sugar," from Greek sakkharon, from Pali sakkhara, from Sanskrit sarkara "gravel, grit" (see sugar). The metaphoric sense of "overly sweet" is recorded by 1841. For the sugar substitute, see saccharin. Related: Saccharinity.

white crystalline compound, odorless but intensely sweet, used as a sugar substitute, 1885, from German, coined 1879 by Russian-born chemist Constantin Fahlberg (1850-1910), who discovered it by accident, from Latin saccharon (see saccharine); for ending see -in (2). Marketed from 1887 as saccharine.