Standard Lemma guide

strychnine

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.

  • UK: /ˈstɹɪk.niːn/
  • UK: /ˈstrɪknɪn/
  • US: /ˈstrɪkˌnaɪn/
  • US: /ˈstrɪkˌnin/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: S T R IH1 K N AY2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A very toxic, colorless crystalline alkaloid, derived from nux vomica, used as a pesticide.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an alkaloid plant toxin extracted chiefly from nux vomica; formerly used as a stimulant

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: alkaloid, plant toxin, phytotoxin

History

Etymology

From French strychnine, from Greek στρύχνος (strýchnos, “sleepy nightshade”) (or directly from Ancient Greek στρύχνον (strúkhnon)) + -ine.

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 士的寧 /士的宁 (shìdìníng) — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Chinese Mandarin: 番木鱉鹼 /番木鳖碱 (fānmùbiējiǎn) — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Chinese Mandarin: 番木虌鹼 /番木虌碱 (fānmùbiējiǎn) — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Chinese Mandarin: 馬錢子鹼 /马钱子碱 (mǎqiánzǐjiǎn) — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Czech: strychnin — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Dutch: strychnine — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Esperanto: striknino — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Finnish: strykniini — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • French: strychnine — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Galician: estricnina — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Galician: esternina — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • German: Strychnin — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Hungarian: sztrichnin — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Ido: striknino — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Italian: stricnina — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Japanese: ストリキニン (sutorikinin) — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Japanese: ストリキニーネ (sutorikiniine) — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Korean: 스트리크닌 (seuteurikeunin) — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Navajo: mąʼiitsoh bee yigą́ — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Norwegian Bokmål: stryknin — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: stryknin — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Polish: strychnina — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Portuguese: estricnina — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Russian: стрихни́н (strixnín) — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Spanish: estricnina — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Swedish: stryknin — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid
  • Turkish: striknin — very toxic, colourless, crystalline alkaloid