Word.ws English Dictionary

physostigmine

UK/ˌfʌɪ.səʊˈstɪɡ.miːn/US/ˌfaɪ.səˈstɪɡˌmin/

physostigmine noun: a parasympathomimetic, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor alkaloid of the Calabar bean, used to treat certain medical conditions.

Noun

physostigmine (countable and uncountable, plural physostigmines)

  1. A parasympathomimetic, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor alkaloid of the Calabar bean, used to treat certain medical conditions.
    • The substance is physostigmine, a drug first isolated from the Calabar bean (Physostigmine venenosum), a climbing liana that grows in swampy coastal areas of West Africa from Sierra Leone south and east as far as the Cameroons.1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 40

Forms of physostigmine

pluralphysostigmines

Origin of physostigmine

From translingual Physostigma venenosum (“the Calabar bean”) + -ine.

Words formed from physostigmine

Questions about physostigmine

What does physostigmine mean?
Physostigmine means a parasympathomimetic, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor alkaloid of the Calabar bean, used to treat certain medical conditions.
What part of speech is physostigmine?
Physostigmine is a noun.
How do you pronounce physostigmine?
Physostigmine is pronounced /ˌfʌɪ.səʊˈstɪɡ.miːn/ (UK).
What is the plural of physostigmine?
The plural of physostigmine is physostigmines.

Words near physostigmine in the dictionary

  1. physonects
  2. physonome
  3. physonomes
  4. physopod
  5. physopods
  6. physostigmine
  7. physostigmines
  8. physostome
  9. physostomes
  10. physostomous
  11. physovenine

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: physostigmine (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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