Bezoar

//ˈbi.zɔɹ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

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

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.