Standard Lemma guide

botulism

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbɒt.jʊl.ɪz.əm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈbɑ.t͡ʃəˌlɪz.əm/
  • CMU ARPABET: B AA1 CH UW0 L IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Poisoning caused by the toxin from Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium that grows in improperly prepared food.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

food poisoning from ingesting botulin; not infectious; affects the CNS; can be fatal if not treated promptly

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: food poisoning, gastrointestinal disorder

History

Etymology

From German Botulismus, from Latin botulus (“sausage”), the first identified source of the disease, + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: ботулизъм (botulizǎm) — medical condition
  • Catalan: botulisme — medical condition
  • Chinese Mandarin: 香腸中毒 /香肠中毒 (xiāngcháng zhòngdú) — medical condition
  • Chinese Mandarin: 波特淋菌中毒 (bōtèlín jūn zhòngdú) — medical condition
  • Czech: botulismus — medical condition
  • Danish: botulisme — medical condition
  • Danish: pølseforgiftning — medical condition
  • Finnish: botulismi — medical condition
  • French: botulisme — medical condition
  • German: Botulismus — medical condition
  • Greek: αλλαντίαση (allantíasi) — medical condition
  • Hungarian: botulizmus — medical condition
  • Icelandic: bótúlíneitrun — medical condition
  • Indonesian: botulisme — medical condition
  • Irish: ispíneachas — medical condition
  • Irish: botalas — medical condition
  • Italian: botulismo — medical condition
  • Japanese: ボツリヌス中毒 (botsurinusu chūdoku) — medical condition
  • Malay: botulisme — medical condition
  • Polish: botulizm — medical condition
  • Portuguese: botulismo — medical condition
  • Romanian: botulism — medical condition
  • Russian: ботули́зм (botulízm) — medical condition
  • Slovak: botulizmus — medical condition
  • Slovak: klobásový jed — medical condition
  • Spanish: botulismo — medical condition
  • Swedish: botulism — medical condition
  • Turkish: botulizm — medical condition
  • Ukrainian: ботулі́зм (botulízm) — medical condition
  • Welsh: botwliaeth — medical condition
  • Welsh: botwledd — medical condition