Bloodroot

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A North American plant, Sanguinaria canadensis, of the poppy family, which has a red root and sap and a single white flower in early spring. uncountable, usually

    "“What on earth did you put in that stuff?” “Bug-bane, barren-wort, penny-cress and blood-root, catchfly, toad-flax, nap-weed and wormwood,” said Catweazle."

  2. 2
    perennial woodland native of North America having a red root and red sap and bearing a solitary lobed leaf and white flower in early spring and having acrid emetic properties; rootstock used as a stimulant and expectorant wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
tetterwortbloodwortbloodwortpausonpuccoonred puccoon root

Example

More examples

"“What on earth did you put in that stuff?” “Bug-bane, barren-wort, penny-cress and blood-root, catchfly, toad-flax, nap-weed and wormwood,” said Catweazle."

Etymology

From blood + root.

Related phrases

sanguinaria canadensis

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