Phrase guide

castor oil

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: /ˈkɑː.stə ˌɔɪl/
  • General-American: /ˈkæ.stɚ ˌɔɪl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The pale yellow vegetable oil extracted from the castor bean; used as a laxative and an industrial lubricant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ricinus oil

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: seed oil, vegetable oil, oil

2

noun

Meaning 2

a purgative extracted from the seed of the castor-oil plant; used in paint and varnish as well as medically

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: purgative, cathartic, physic, aperient

History

Etymology

From its medicinal use in succession to castor.

Across languages

Translations

43 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: рициново масло (ricinovo maslo) — vegetable oil
  • Catalan: oli de ricí — vegetable oil
  • Chinese Mandarin: 蓖麻油 (bìmáyóu) — vegetable oil
  • Dutch: castorolie — vegetable oil
  • Dutch: ricinusolie — vegetable oil
  • Esperanto: ricinoleo — vegetable oil
  • Finnish: risiiniöljy — vegetable oil
  • French: huile de ricin — vegetable oil
  • Galician: aceite de rícino — vegetable oil
  • German: Rizinusöl — vegetable oil
  • Greek: καστορέλαιο (kastorélaio) — vegetable oil
  • Greek: ρετσινόλαδο (retsinólado) — vegetable oil
  • Ancient Greek: κίκι (kíki) — vegetable oil
  • Gujarati: દિવેલ (divel) — vegetable oil
  • Hungarian: ricinusolaj — vegetable oil
  • Italian: olio di ricino — vegetable oil
  • Japanese: 蓖麻子油 (himashiyu) — vegetable oil
  • Kazakh: майсана (maisana) — vegetable oil
  • Kikuyu: mbarĩki — vegetable oil
  • Kikuyu: maguta ma mbarĩki — vegetable oil
  • Korean: 피마자유 (pimajayu) — vegetable oil
  • Macedonian: рицинусово масло (ricinusovo maslo) — vegetable oil
  • Navajo: akʼah agháhwiizídígíí — vegetable oil
  • Polish: olej rycynowy — vegetable oil
  • Portuguese: óleo de rícino — vegetable oil
  • Punjabi: ਕਸਟਰੈਲ (kasṭarail) — vegetable oil
  • Romanian: ulei de ricin — vegetable oil
  • Russian: касто́ровое ма́сло (kastórovoje máslo) — vegetable oil
  • Russian: касто́рка (kastórka) — vegetable oil
  • Spanish: aceite de ricino — vegetable oil
  • Sranan Tongo: kastroli — vegetable oil
  • Sundanese: kastroli — vegetable oil
  • Swedish: ricinolja — vegetable oil
  • Tagalog: langis ng tangan-tangan — vegetable oil
  • Tagalog: aseyte-de-kastor — vegetable oil
  • Tamil: விளக்கெண்ணெய் (viḷakkeṇṇey) — vegetable oil
  • Tamil: ஆமணக்கெண்ணெய் (āmaṇakkeṇṇey) — vegetable oil
  • Telugu: ఆముదము (āmudamu) — vegetable oil
  • Turkish: Hint yağı — vegetable oil
  • Ukrainian: рици́нова олія (rycýnova olija) — vegetable oil
  • Ukrainian: касто́рова олія (kastórova olija) — vegetable oil
  • Ukrainian: касто́рка (kastórka) — vegetable oil
  • Unami: shemèk — vegetable oil