ipecac

Meanings

1. The dried rhizome and roots of either of two tropical American plants (Cephaelis acuminata and Cephaelis ipecacuanha) of the madder family used especially as a source of emetine.
2. An emetic and expectorant drug that contains emetine and is prepared from ipecac especially as a syrup for use in treating accidental poisoning.
3. The shrub that produces ipecac (Cephaelis ipecacuanha), native to Brazil and cultivated elsewhere.

Etymology

Contraction of ipecacuanha, from Portuguese ipecacuanha, from Old Tupi ypekakûãîa, from ypeka (“duck”) + akûãîa (“penis”).