Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

nightshade

/ˈnaɪt.ʃeɪd/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.55 in modern English

Syllables
night-shade
IPA
/ˈnaɪt.ʃeɪd/
18
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any of the poisonous plants belonging to the genus Solanum, especially black nightshade or woody nightshade.

noun

Any plant of the wider Solanaceae family, including the nightshades as well as tomato, potato, eggplant, and deadly nightshade.

Colloquial

noun

Belladonna or deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna).

noun

Any of several plants likened to nightshade, usually because of similar dark-colored berries.

Etymology

From Middle English nyȝtschade, niȝteschode, nyght shade, from Old English nihtsċada, from Proto-West Germanic *nahtskadō (“nightshade”), corresponding to night + shade. Compare Dutch nachtschade (“nightshade”), German Nachtschatten (“nightshade”).

Origin

Word Breakdown

  • Root: nyȝtschade, nihtsċada, *nahtskadō

Usage

Inflected Forms

nightshades (plural)

Phrases

African nightshade American nightshade Argentine nightshade Bahama nightshade ball nightshade beaked nightshade bindweed nightshade bitter nightshade

Frequently Paired Words

petit morel petty morel solano

Questions

How do you pronounce nightshade?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈnaɪt.ʃeɪd/.
What does nightshade mean?
Any of the poisonous plants belonging to the genus Solanum, especially black nightshade or woody nightshade.
Where does nightshade come from?
It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce nightshade

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “nightshade”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈnaɪt.ʃeɪd/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “nightshade”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “nightshade” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.