English
aconite
Aconite comes from French aconit ‘aconite, monkshood’, and goes back to Ancient Greek ἀκόνιτον.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἀκόνιτον1akóniton‘leopard's bane, Aconitum anthora’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaconītum1‘any of the poisonous plants of the genus Aconitum’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentaconit1‘aconite, monkshood’
- Englishearliest quotation 1936aconite1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English aconite
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art: “Witches always anointed themselves with ointments before departing up…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἀκόνιτονWiktionary, English aconiteakóniton‘leopard's bane, Aconitum anthora’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaconītumWiktionary, English aconite‘any of the poisonous plants of the genus Aconitum’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentaconitWiktionary, English aconite‘aconite, monkshood’
- Englishearliest quotation 1936aconiteWiktionary, English aconite. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art: “Witches always anointed themselves with ointments before departing up…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ken- ‘dust’
recent, nod, nosh, incinerate, recency, cinerea, nookie, 19 more
Today it means
noun The herb wolfsbane, or monkshood; any plant of the genus Aconitum, all the species of which are poisonous.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “aconite”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek ἀκόνιτον / aconite