poison
English
Etymology
From Middle English poisoun, poyson, poysone, puyson, puisun, from Old French puison, poison, from Latin pōtio, pōtiōnis (“drink, a draught, a poisonous draught, a potion”), from pōtō (“I drink”). Displaced native Old English ator. See also potion and potable.
Pronunciation
- enPR: poi'zən, IPA(key): /ˈpɔɪz(ə)n/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (file) - Rhymes: -ɔɪzən
- Hyphenation: poi‧son
Noun
poison (countable and uncountable, plural poisons)
Derived terms
Translations
substance harmful to a living organism
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something that harms
Verb
poison (third-person singular simple present poisons, present participle poisoning, simple past and past participle poisoned)
- (transitive) To use poison to kill or paralyse somebody
- The assassin poisoned the king.
- (transitive) To pollute; to cause some part of the environment to become poisonous
- That factory is poisoning the river.
- (transitive) To cause something to become much worse
- Suspicion will poison their relationship.
- He poisoned the mood in the room with his non-stop criticism.
- (transitive) To cause someone to hate or to have unfair negative opinions
- She's poisoned him against all his old friends.
Synonyms
- (to pollute): contaminate, pollute, taint
- (to cause to become worse): corrupt, taint
Derived terms
Translations
to use poison to kill or paralyse
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pollute
French
Etymology
From Old French, inherited from Latin pōtio, pōtiōnis. Doublet of potion, a borrowing.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pwa.zɔ̃/
audio (file)
Derived terms
- empoisonner
- poisonneux
Further reading
- “poison” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle English
Old French
Noun
poison f (oblique plural poisons, nominative singular poison, nominative plural poisons)
- poison
- circa 1176, Chrétien de Troyes, 'Cligès':
- Thessala tranpre sa poison
- Thessala mixed her poison
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- potion
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