# bezoar

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈbi.zɔɹ/

## Definitions
1. A mass, usually of hair or undigested vegetable matter, found in a human or animal's intestines, similar to a hairball.
2. An enterolith.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish bezoar and/or French bézoard, based on Arabic بَازَهْر (bāzahr), from Middle Persian pʾtzhl (pādzahr, “bezoar, antidote”), from a compound of words meaning “to protect” and “poison” (literally “killing thing”), thus a bezoar was “that which protects against poison”. In ancient times, bezoars from animals were ground up and ingested as remedies for various maladies and as antidotes to poisons.

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