poison

English Online Dictionary. What means poison‎? What does poison mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English poisoun, poyson, poysone, puyson, puisun, from Old French poison, poisun, from Latin pōtiōnem (“drink, a draught, a poisonous draught, a potion”), from pōtō (“I drink”). See also potion and potable (from the same root). Mostly displaced native Old English ātor (see atter).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: poi'zən, IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɪz(ə)n/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪzən
• Hyphenation: poi‧son

Noun

poison (countable and uncountable, plural poisons)

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

2. (figuratively) Anything harmful to a person or thing.
3. (informal, idiomatic) An alcoholic drink. (Mainly in the phrases "name your poison" and "what's your poison?")

   — What's your poison?

   — I'll have a glass of whiskey.

4. (chemistry) Any substance that inhibits catalytic activity.

Usage notes

• In precise usage, the word poison is a hypernym, not a synonym, of venom: venom is a kind of poison (a kind of toxin) that an animal can deliver specifically via biting, stinging, or similarly controlled release. In herpetology it is shibbolethic to say the hyponym and not the hypernym when referring specifically to venom.
• The word poison is denotatively synonymous with toxin, but it is not connotatively identical and is thus not always freely interchangeable in idiomatic usage. Especially in toxicology, the words toxin, toxic, and toxicity are not idiomatically freely interchangeable with poison, poisonous, and poisonousness, respectively, for reasons of idiomatic tone rather than denotation.

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Translations

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).

2. (transitive) To pollute; to cause to become poisonous.

3. (transitive) To cause to become much worse.

4. (transitive) To cause (someone) to hate or to have unfair negative opinions.

5. (chemistry) To inhibit the catalytic activity of.
6. (transitive, computing) To place false or malicious data into (a cache, etc.) as part of an exploit.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with envenomate

Synonyms

• (to pollute): contaminate, pollute, taint
• (to cause to become worse): corrupt, taint

Derived terms

Translations

• Swedish: förgifta (sv)
• Thai: วางยา (th), เบื่อ (th) (bʉ̀ʉa)
• Turkish: zehirlemek (tr), ağılamak (tr)
• Tày: bưa
• Ukrainian: отру́ювати impf (otrújuvaty), тру́їти impf (trújity), отру́їти pf (otrújity)
• Venetan: invełenar, inverinar, intosegar, tosegar
• Volapük: venenön (vo)
• Welsh: gwenwyno (cy)
• Yiddish: פֿאַרסמען (farsamen), פֿאַרגיפֿטן (fargiftn), סמען (samen)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “poison”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “poison”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

From Old French poison f, inherited from Latin pōtiōnem f. Doublet of potion f, a borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pwa.zɔ̃/

Noun

poison m (plural poisons)

1. poison

   Poisson sans boisson est poison. ― Fish without drink is poison.

Derived terms

• empoisonner
  • empoisonnement m
• poisonneux

Descendants

• → Walloon: pwezon m

Further reading

• “poison”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Noun

poison

1. Alternative form of poisoun

Old French

Alternative forms

• peissun, peyson, poisoun, pouson, poyson, poysoun, poysun, puison, puisson, puisun, puson, pusoun, pusoune, pusun

Etymology 1

From Latin pōtiōnem, accusative singular of pōtio f.

Noun

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

1. poison
2. potion

Descendants

• Middle French: poison ?
  • French: poison m
    • → Walloon: pwezon m
• → Dutch: poisoen
• → Middle English: poisoun, poison, puison, poisen, puyson, poysone, puisun
  • English: poison
  • Scots: pushion

Etymology 2

Noun

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

1. Alternative spelling of poisson

References

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French poison. Doublet of poción.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpoison/ [ˈpoi̯.sõn]
• Rhymes: -oison
• Syllabification: poi‧son

Noun

poison m (plural póisones)

1. (Louisiana) poison

   Synonyms: ponzoña, veneno