nightshade

UK/ˈnaɪt.ʃeɪd/US/ˈnaɪt.ʃeɪd/

nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,663 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: nightshades

Nightshade is a poisonous plant with dark berries. Deadly nightshade, woody nightshade, nightshade berries.

Deadly nightshade is genuinely lethal and the berries look temptingly sweet, which is why children are warned about it. The family it belongs to is enormous and includes the potato, tomato and aubergine, all perfectly safe to eat.

Definitions of nightshade

1nounnightshadeA poisonous plant with dark berries.C1
“Don't let the children eat those berries; they're from a nightshade plant.”

nightshade is a plant.

Where it comes from

Old English nihtscada, night plus shade, probably for the plant's dark berries or shady habit.

Proto-West Germanic
*nahtskadō — nightshade
Old English
nihtsċada
Middle English
nyȝtschade
English, today
nightshade

From Middle English nyȝtschade, niȝteschode, nyght shade, from Old English nihtsċada, from Proto-West Germanic nahtskadō (“nightshade”), corresponding to night + shade. Compare Dutch nachtschade (“nightshade”), German Nachtschatten (“nightshade”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

nightshade in the wild

Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger, also black henbane and stinking nightshade) is a poisonous plant belonging to tribe Hyoscyameae of the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Hyoscyamus niger
Some other species may also be referred to as "black nightshade".
Solanum nigrum
Nearly 80% of all nightshades are included in the subfamily Solanoideae, most of which are members of the type genus Solanum.
Solanaceae
Other nightshades are known for their beauty, such as the long, slender flowers of Brugmansia, the various colors of Petunia, or the spotted and speckled varieties of Schizanthus.
Solanaceae

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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