belladonna
Meanings
noun
- A plant, Atropa belladonna, having purple bell-shaped flowers and poisonous black glossy berries.
- An alkaloid extracted from this plant, sometimes used medicinally, containing atropine.
name
- A female given name.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian belladonna (altered by folk etymology: bella donna (“beautiful lady”)) from Medieval Latin blādōna (“nightshade”), of Gaulish origin. The folk etymology was motivated by the cosmetic use of nightshade for dilating the eyes.
Synonyms
Derived words
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