# belladonna

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˌbɛləˈdɑnə/ · frequency rank #51,563

## Definitions
1. A plant, Atropa belladonna, having purple bell-shaped flowers and poisonous black glossy berries.
2. An alkaloid extracted from this plant, sometimes used medicinally, containing atropine.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Italian belladonna (altered by folk etymology: bella donna (“beautiful lady”)) from Medieval Latin blādōna (“nightshade”), of Gaulish origin. The folk etymology was motivated by the cosmetic use of nightshade for dilating the eyes.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/belladonna