Dumbcane
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A tropical plant of the genus Dieffenbachia. uncountable, usually
"I was stunned to realize just how many of these potentially dangerous plants were in my own home and garden, including aloe, elephant’s ear, jade, peace lily (Spathiphyllum), philodendron and dumbcane (Dieffenbacchia), as well as foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), hellebore, vinca, rhododendron and chrysanthemum."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"I was stunned to realize just how many of these potentially dangerous plants were in my own home and garden, including aloe, elephant’s ear, jade, peace lily (Spathiphyllum), philodendron and dumbcane (Dieffenbacchia), as well as foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), hellebore, vinca, rhododendron and chrysanthemum."
Etymology
From dumb + cane, due to its poisoning effect on the throat.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.