# poison
## 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: /ˈpɔɪz(ə)n/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔɪzən
* Hyphenation: poi‧son

### Noun

poison (countable and uncountable, plural poisons)
* A substance that is harmful or lethal to a living organism when ingested.
    We used a poison to kill the weeds.
* (figuratively) Anything harmful to a person or thing.
    Gossip is a malicious poison.
** 1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act IV:Awaie with the Rebels ſuffer them not to ſpeake, His words are poyſon in the eares of the people, […]
* (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.
* (chemistry) Any substance that inhibits catalytic activity.
** 2013, Huazhang Liu, Ammonia Synthesis Catalysts: Innovation and Practice, page 693:The temperature effect of poisons. The influence of poison on the catalyst can be different with the change of reaction conditions.

#### 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

* arrow poison
* arrow-poison frog
* berry poison
* box poison
* bullock poison
* bushman poison
* bushman's poison
* Champion Bay poison
* Circean poison
* cluster poison
* crinkle-leaved poison
* dew poison
* Durban poison
* eastern poison ivy
* fish poison tree
* Gilbernine poison
* granite poison
* heart-leaved poison
* Hill River poison
* Hook Point poison
* horned poison
* Hottentot's poison bush
* Hutt River poison
* kite-leaved poison
* mallet poison
* Mount Ragged poison
* Myers' poison frog
* name one's poison
* narrow-leaved poison
* net-leaved poison
* neutron poison
* nuclear poison
* one man's fish is another man's poison
* one man's meat is another man's poison
* Phillips River poison
* pick your poison
* poison arrow
* poison arrow frog
* poison ash
* poison at the box office
* Poison Cross
* poison dart frog
* poison dart plant
* poisoner
* poison gas
* poison gland
* poison hemlock
* poisoning
* poison ivy
* poison-ivy
* poison message
* poison nut
* poison-nut
* poison oak
* poisonous
* poison pen
* poison pen letter
* poison-pen letter
* poison pill
* poison queue
* poison sumac
* poisonwood
* prickly poison
* rat poison
* rigid-leaf poison
* river poison
* rock poison
* Roe's poison
* runner poison
* sandplain poison
* Santander poison frog
* sea poison tree
* slender poison
* spike poison
* spindle poison
* spit-poison
* spot-legged poison frog
* Stirling Range poison
* taste of one's own poison
* the dose makes the poison
* thick-leaved poison
* wallflower poison
* western poison ivy
* western poison oak
* what's yer poison
* what's your poison
* white gum poison
* wodjil poison
* woolly poison
* York Road poison

#### Translations
### Verb

poison (third-person singular simple present poisons, present participle poisoning, simple past and past participle poisoned)
* (transitive) To use poison to kill or paralyse (somebody).
    The assassin poisoned the king.
* (transitive) To pollute; to cause to become poisonous.
    That factory is poisoning the river.
* (transitive) To cause to become much worse.
    Suspicion will poison their relationship.
    He poisoned the mood in the room with his non-stop criticism.
* (transitive) To cause (someone) to hate or to have unfair negative opinions.
    She's poisoned him against all his old friends.
* (chemistry) To inhibit the catalytic activity of.
* (transitive, computing) To place false or malicious data into (a cache, etc.) as part of an exploit.
** 2013, Ronald L. Mendell, Investigating Information-based Crimes, page 93:In this technique, the hacker poisons the cache to launch malware into Web pages.

#### Usage notes

* Not to be confused with envenomate

#### Synonyms

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

#### Derived terms

* lead poisoning
* poisoned chalice
* poison the well
* radiation poisoning

#### Translations
### 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: /pwa.zɔ̃/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

poison m (plural poisons)
* 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
* 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)
* poison
** c. 1176, Chrétien de Troyes, Cligès:Thessala tranpre sa poisonThessala mixed her poison
* 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)
* Alternative spelling of poisson

### References

* 1 2 poison on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from French poison. Doublet of poción.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈpoison/ [ˈpoi̯.sõn]
* Rhymes: -oison
* Syllabification: poi‧son

### Noun

poison m (plural póisones)
* (Louisiana) poison
    Synonyms: ponzoña, veneno