What does "sabadilla" mean?

A Mexican and Central American plant of the family Melanthiaceae (Schoenocaulon officinale, syn. Sabadilla officinalis).

What is a synonym for "sabadilla"?

Common synonyms include: caustic barley, indian caustic barley.

Pronounced //ˌsæbəˈdɪlə//.

//ˌsæbəˈdɪlə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A Mexican and Central American plant of the family Melanthiaceae (Schoenocaulon officinale, syn. Sabadilla officinalis).
2
The seeds of this plant, used in medicine and insecticides.

From Spanish cebadilla, diminutive of cebada (“barley”).

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