poison

See also poisson, and Poisson

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Old French poison, from Latin pōtio, pōtiōnis, from pōtō. See also potion and potable.

Pronunciation

• enPR: poi'zən, IPA: /ˈpɔɪz(ə)n/, X-SAMPA: /"pOIz(@)n/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪzən

Noun

poison (plural poisons)

1. A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism.

   We used a poison to kill the weeds.

2. Something that harms a person or thing.

   Gossip is a malicious poison.

3. (informal) A drink; liquor.

   - What's your poison?

   - I'll have a glass of whisky.

Synonyms

• (substance that is harmful): contaminant, pollutant, toxin, venom, atter

Derived terms

Terms derived from poison

poison gas poison hemlock poison ivy poison oak poison-pen letter

poison pill poison sumac poisoner poisoning poisonous

poisonwood rat poison what's your poison

Translations

substance harmful to a living organism

• Albanian: helm (sq) m
• Arabic: سم (ar) (summ) m
• Armenian: թույն (hy) (t'uyn)
• Bashkir: ағыу (ağïw)
• Basque: pozoi (eu)
• Bengali: বিষ (bn)
• Breton: ampoezon (br) m
• Bulgarian: отрова (bg) (otrova) f
• Catalan: verí (ca) m, metzina (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 毒

  Mandarin: 毒 (cmn), 毒物 (cmn) (dúwù), 毒药 (cmn) (dúyào)

• Czech: jed (cs) m
• Danish: gift (da)
• Dhivehi: ވިހަ (dv) (viha)
• Dutch: gif (nl) n, vergif (nl) n, vergift (nl) n
• Esperanto: veneno (eo)
• Estonian: mürk (et)
• Faroese: gift (fo) f, eitur (fo) n
• Finnish: myrkky (fi)
• French: poison (fr) m
• Galician: veleno (gl) m
• German: Gift (de) n, Giftstoff (de) m
• Greek: δηλητήριο (el) (dilitírio) n, (colloquial) φαρμάκι (el) (farmáki) n
• Hebrew: רַעַל (he) (ra'àl) m, סַם (he) (sam) m
• Hindi: विष (hi) (viś), ज़हर (hi) (zahr)
• Hungarian: méreg (hu)
• Icelandic: eitur (is) n
• Ido: toxiko (io), veneno (io)
• Indonesian: racun (id), bisa (id) (of snake)
• Interlingua: veneno (ia), toxico (ia)
• Irish: nimh (ga) f
• Italian: veleno (it) m
• Japanese: 毒 (ja) (どく, doku)
• Kazakh: у (kk) (u)
• Korean: 독 (ko) (dok)
• Kurdish: jehr (ku) f, jar (ku) f, ده‌رمانخوارد (ku), ژه‌هر (ku)

• Latin: venenum (la) n, toxicum (la) n
• Lithuanian: nuodai (lt) n
• Luxembourgish: Gëft (lb)
• Malay: racun (ms)
• Norwegian: gift (no) m and f
• Old English: ātor (ang) n
• Persian: زهر (fa) (zæhr)
• Polish: trucizna (pl) f
• Portuguese: veneno (pt) m, peçonha (pt) f, tóxico (pt) m
• Romanian: otravă (ro), venin (ro)
• Romansch: tissi (rm) m, teissa (rm) m, tössi (rm) m
• Russian: яд (ru) (jad) m, отрава (ru) (otráva) f
• Sanskrit: विष (sa) (viṣa)
• Scots: pushion
• Scottish Gaelic: nimh (gd) m, puinnsean (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̀тров (sh) m

  Roman: òtrov (sh) m

• Sinhalese: වස (si) (vasa)
• Slovak: jed (sk) m
• Slovene: strup (sl) m
• Spanish: veneno (es) m
• Swahili: sumu (sw) (noun 9/10)
• Swedish: gift (sv) n
• Taos: benę̀nu’úne
• Telugu: విషము (te) (vishamu)
• Thai: พิษ (th) (pít), ยาพิษ (th) (yaa pít)
• Tocharian A: wäs
• Tocharian B: wase
• Turkish: zehir (tr), ağı (tr)
• Ukrainian: отрути (uk) (otruty)
• Urdu: زہر (ur) (zahr) m
• Vietnamese: chất độc (vi), thuốc độc (vi)
• Volapük: venen (vo)
• Walloon: pwezon (wa)
• Welsh: gwenwyn (cy) m
• Zulu: isihlungu (zu) 7/8, ubuthi (zu) 14
• ǃXóõ: ǁāã, sòo

something that harms

• Catalan: verí (ca) m, metzina (ca) f
• Czech: jed (cs) m
• Greek: δηλητήριο (el) (dilitírio) n

• Norwegian: gift (no)
• Sanskrit: विष (sa)
• Scottish Gaelic: nimh (gd) m

liquor

• Czech: jed (cs) m
• Greek: ποτό (el) (potó) n

• Slovak: jed (sk) m

Verb

poison (third-person singular simple present poisons, present participle poisoning, simple past and past participle poisoned)

1. (transitive) To use poison to kill or paralyse somebody

   The assassin poisoned the king.

2. (transitive) To pollute; to cause some part of the environment to become poisonous

   That factory is poisoning the river.

3. (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.

4. (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

lead poisoning

radiation poisoning

Translations

to use poison to kill or paralyse

• Armenian: թունավորել (hy) (t'unavorel)
• Breton: ampoezoniñ (br)
• Bulgarian: тровя (bg) (trovja), отравям (bg) (otravjam)
• Catalan: emmetzinar (ca), enverinar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 毒害 (cmn) (dúhài)

• Czech: otrávit (cs)
• Danish: forgifte (da)
• Dutch: vergiftigen (nl)
• Estonian: mürgitama (et)
• Faroese: eitra (fo)
• Finnish: myrkyttää (fi)
• French: empoisonner (fr)
• German: vergiften (de)
• Greek: δηλητηριάζω (el) (dilitiriázo), (colloquial) φαρμακώνω (el) (farmakóno)
• Hungarian: megmérgez (hu)
• Indonesian: meracuni (id)

• Interlingua: invenenar (ia), intoxicar (ia)
• Irish: nimhigh (ga)
• Italian: avvelenare (it), intossicare (it)
• Japanese: 毒を混入する (ja) (doku-o konnyū-suru) (mix with poison), 毒を盛る (ja) (doku-o moru)
• Kurdish: jehr kirin (ku), jehr dan (ku)
• Latin: veneno (la)
• Polish: truć (pl), zatruwać (pl), otruć (pl)
• Portuguese: envenenar (pt), empeçonhar (pt), intoxicar (pt)
• Romanian: otrăvi (ro), învenina (ro), intoxica (ro)
• Russian: отравлять (ru) (otravlját') impf., травить (ru) (travít') impf., отравить (ru) (otravít') pf.
• Scots: pushion
• Slovak: otráviť (sk)
• Spanish: envenenar (es)
• Swedish: förgifta (sv)
• Turkish: zehirlemek (tr), ağılamak (tr)
• Volapük: venenön (vo)

pollute

• Catalan: emmetzinar (ca), enverinar (ca)
• Czech: otrávit (cs)
• Faroese: dálka (fo)
• Greek: μολύνω (el) (molýno)

• Russian: отравлять (ru) (otravlját') impf., травить (ru) (travít') impf., отравить (ru) (otravít') pf.
• Scots: pushion
• Slovak: otráviť (sk)

make worse

• Catalan: emmetzinar (ca), enverinar (ca)
• Czech: otrávit (cs)
• Greek: δηλητηριάζω (el) (dilitiriázo)

• Scots: pushion
• Slovak: otráviť (sk)
• Turkish: zehirlemek (tr)

References

• “poison” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
• poison in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

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French

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /pwazɔ̃ /, X-SAMPA: /pwazO~/

Etymology

From Old French < Latin potio, potionis.

Noun

poison m (plural poisons)

1. poison

Derived terms

• empoisonnement
• empoisonner

Related terms

• potion

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Old French

Etymology

From Latin potio, potionis.

Noun

poison f (oblique plural poisons, nominative singular poison, nominative plural poisons)

1. poison
2. potion

Descendants

• English: poison
• French: poison