cicuta

See also: Cicuta

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cicūta. Apparently related to kex/kix.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɪˈkjuːtə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

cicuta (uncountable)

1. (archaic) Hemlock.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection ii:

     cicuta, or hemlock, is a strong poison in Greece, but with us it hath no such violent effects […].

Anagrams

• Ciutac

Catalan

Alternative forms

• ceguda

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin cicūta. Doublet of ceguda.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [siˈku.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [siˈku.ta]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

cicuta f (plural cicutes)

1. hemlock (Conium maculatum)

   Synonym: julivertassa

Further reading

• “cicuta”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “cicuta”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “cicuta” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “cicuta”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cicūta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃiˈku.ta/
• Rhymes: -uta
• Hyphenation: ci‧cù‧ta

Noun

cicuta f (plural cicute)

1. (uncountable) alternative letter-case form of Cicuta: the Cicuta taxonomic genus
2. water hemlock, cowbane (any poisonous plant of the genus Cicuta)
3. hemlock (poison)

Derived terms

• cicuta acquatica
• cicuta aglina
• cicuta di Socrate
• cicuta maggiore
• cicuta minore
• cicuta rossa

Further reading

• cicuta in sapere.it – De Agostini Editore
• “cicuta”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026
• cicuta in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

Anagrams

• cucita

Latin

Etymology

From the same substrate source as English kex, Cornish kegis, and Welsh cegid (“hemlock”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kɪˈkuː.ta]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃiˈkuː.ta]

Noun

cicūta f (genitive cicūtae); first declension

1. a plant, poison hemlock, probably either Conium maculatum or Cicuta virosa
2. the juice of the hemlock given to prisoners as poison
3. a pipe or flute made from the stalks or stems of the hemlock

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cicūta	cicūtae
genitive	cicūtae	cicūtārum
dative	cicūtae	cicūtīs
accusative	cicūtam	cicūtās
ablative	cicūtā	cicūtīs
vocative	cicūta	cicūtae

Derived terms

• cicūticen

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: cucutã
  • Romanian: cucută
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: cicuta
  • Sicilian: cicuta
• North-Italian:
  • Piedmontese: sùa
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Aragonese: acecuta
  • Catalan: ceguda
  • Gascon: cecuta, ciguda, ceguda
  • Old French: cëue, cegue
    • French: ciguë, (dialectal) çue, ceüe
  • Occitan: ciguda

    Vivaro-Alpine: cigüa

  • Norman: chue, cheüe
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Galician: cegude, cigude
  • Portuguese: cegude, cigude
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: kukutë
  • → Andalusian Arabic: جقوطة (čuqūṭa, čaqūṭa)
  • → Catalan: cicuta
  • → Galician: cicuta
  • → Greek: κικούτα (kikoúta), κιρκούτα (kirkoúta)
  • → Portuguese: cicuta
  • → Russian: цику́та (cikúta)
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ку̀кута

    Latin script: kùkuta

  • → Spanish: cicuta
  • → Translingual: Cicuta

References

• “cicuta”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cicuta”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cicuta”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cicuta (“hemlock; pipe”). Compare the inherited doublet cegude.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /siˈku.tɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /siˈku.tɐ/

Noun

cicuta f (plural cicutas)

1. hemlock (poisonous plant of genus Conium)

Further reading

• “cicuta”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “cicuta”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cicuta (“hemlock; pipe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θiˈkuta/ [θiˈku.t̪a] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /siˈkuta/ [siˈku.t̪a] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -uta
• Syllabification: ci‧cu‧ta

Noun

cicuta f (plural cicutas)

1. hemlock (poisonous plant)

Further reading

• “cicuta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025