belladonna

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.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌbɛləˈdɑnə/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌbɛləˈdɒnə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒnə

belladonna (countable and uncountable, plural belladonnas)

1. A plant, Atropa belladonna, having purple bell-shaped flowers and poisonous black glossy berries.
   • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 112:

     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.

2. An alkaloid extracted from this plant, sometimes used medicinally, containing atropine.
   • 1976 December 11, Tommi Avicolli, “The Middle Ages: Lest We Forget...”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 11:

     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.

   • 2005 June 13, Edmund White, “My Women: Learning how to love them.”, in The New Yorker:

     Cathy teetered downstairs on very high heels, her hair swept up in a disintegrating “brioche”, her eyes glistening with belladonna drops.

Wikispecies

• (Atropa belladonna): deadly nightshade

• belladonna lily
• belladonnized, belladonized
• Belladonna mottle virus

Borrowed from Italian belladonna (bella donna, literally “beautiful lady”), altered by folk etymology from Medieval Latin blādōna (“nightshade”), from Gaulish *blātōnā, blātunā, from Proto-Celtic *blātus (“flower”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃tus, from *bʰleh₃- (“blossom, flower”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌbɛ.laːˈdɔ.naː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bel‧la‧don‧na

belladonna f or m (plural belladonna's, diminutive belladonnaatje n)

1. synonym of wolfskers (“deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna)”)

Borrowed from Italian belladonna (bella donna, literally “beautiful lady”), altered by folk etymology from Medieval Latin blādōna (“nightshade”), from Gaulish *blātōnā, blātunā, from Proto-Celtic *blātus (“flower”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃tus, from *bʰleh₃- (“blossom, flower”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbelːɑdonːɑ/, [ˈbe̞lːɑ̝ˌdo̞nːɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -onːɑ
• Syllabification^(key): bel‧la‧don‧na
• Hyphenation^(key): bel‧la‧don‧na

belladonna

1. belladonna, deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna)

• myrkkykoiso
• lemmonmarja

• “belladonna”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

Interpreted by folk etymology as bella (“beautiful”) +‎ donna (“lady”), from Medieval Latin blādōna (“nightshade”), from Gaulish *blātōnā, blātunā, from Proto-Celtic *blātus (“flower”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃tus, from *bʰleh₃- (“blossom, flower”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌbɛl.laˈdɔn.na/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɔnna
• Hyphenation: bel‧la‧dòn‧na

belladonna f (plural belledonne)

1. deadly nightshade, belladonna (Atropa belladonna)

Borrowed from Italian belladonna (bella donna, literally “beautiful lady”), altered by folk etymology from Medieval Latin blādōna (“nightshade”), from Gaulish *blātōnā, blātunā, from Proto-Celtic *blātus (“flower”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰléh₃tus, from *bʰleh₃- (“blossom, flower”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [bɛl.laˈdɔn.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [bel.laˈd̪ɔn.na]

belladonna f (genitive belladonnae); first declension

1. (New Latin) belladonna (Atropa belladonna)

First-declension noun.

• solānum

Borrowed from Italian belladonna.

• IPA^(key): /bɛl.laˈdɔn.na/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔnna
• Syllabification: bel‧la‧don‧na

belladonna f

1. (literary) alternative form of belladona

• belladonna in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• belladonna in Polish dictionaries at PWN