belladonna
/ˌbɛləˈdɑnə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.52 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A plant, Atropa belladonna, having purple bell-shaped flowers and poisonous black glossy berries.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An alkaloid extracted from this plant, sometimes used medicinally, containing atropine.
Countable; Uncountable
name
A female given name.
Example Sentences
- "Witches always anointed themselves with ointments before departing up the chimney to their Sabbaths. One such ointment was composed of Aconite, Belladonna, Water Parsley, Cinquefoil and Babies' Fat."
- "The elderly women who practiced herbalism and administered belladonna (a pain killer) to pregnant women were apt to be accused of witchcraft. The Medieval church was against the administration of belladonna because they believed women were meant to suffer pain in childbirth as a result of Eve's sin."
- "Cathy teetered downstairs on very high heels, her hair swept up in a disintegrating “brioche”, her eyes glistening with belladonna drops."
- "Oliver summed up his observations by conceding that in the early nineteen twenties before he — or, for that matter, she herself was born — Belladonna Jones might have been devastating."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *bʰleh₃-, belladonna, blādōna, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌbɛləˈdɑnə/
- British English: /ˌbɛləˈdɒnə/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
belladonnized
belladonized
Phrases
belladonna lily
Belladonna mottle virus