Standard Lemma guide

psilocybin

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.

  • General-American: /ˌsɪ.ləˈsaɪ.bɪn/
  • General-American: /ˌsaɪ-/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌsʌɪ.lə(ʊ)ˈsʌɪ.bɪn/
  • CMU ARPABET: S AY2 L AH0 S AY1 B AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A hallucinogenic alkaloid, C12H15N2O·H2PO3, present in several species of Central American mushroom and producing effects similar to LSD. The prodrug of psilocin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a hallucinogenic compound obtained from a mushroom

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: psilocin

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: hallucinogen, hallucinogenic drug, psychedelic drug, psychodelic drug

History

Etymology

Borrowed from German Psilocybin (coined by Albert Hofmann), from translingual Psilocybe (“genus of mushroom”) + -in.

Across languages

Translations

14 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Asturian: psilocibina — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Catalan: psilocibina — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Chinese Mandarin: 裸蓋菇素 /裸盖菇素 — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Dutch: psilocybine — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Finnish: psilosybiini — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • French: psilocybine — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Hungarian: pszilocibin — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Italian: psilocibina — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Polish: psylocybina — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Russian: псилоциби́н (psilocibín) — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Spanish: psilocibina — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Swedish: psilocybin — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Turkish: psilosibin — hallucinogenic alkaloid
  • Ukrainian: псилоци́бін (psylocýbin) — hallucinogenic alkaloid