belladonna

Meaning

Noun

• A plant, Atropa belladonna, having purple bell-shaped flowers and poisonous black glossy berries.
• An alkaloid extracted from this plant, sometimes used medicinally, containing atropine.

Related

Similar words

• deadly nightshade

Origin

• Borrowed from Italian belladonna (altered by folk etymology: bella donna) from Medieval Latin blādōna ("nightshade"), of Gaulish origin. The folk etymology was motivated by the cosmetic use of nightshade for dilating the eyes.