barbasco
|bar/bas/co|
🇺🇸
/bɑrˈbæskoʊ/
🇬🇧
/bɑːrˈbæskəʊ/
poisonous-root plant used as fish poison/insecticide
Etymology
'barbasco' originates from Spanish, specifically the word 'barbasco', a vernacular plant name used in Spanish-speaking regions.
'barbasco' entered English from Spanish in the 19th and early 20th centuries as explorers, botanists, and traders referred to New World plants by their local names; its use in English covered both rotenone-producing roots and certain Mexican wild yams.
Initially in Spanish it denoted particular local plants; in English it came to refer both to those fish-poison/insecticide plants (and their rotenone extracts) and, in Mexican commercial contexts, to wild yams used for diosgenin extraction.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
any of several tropical plants (notably in the genera Derris and Lonchocarpus) whose roots yield rotenone, traditionally used as a fish poison and as an insecticide; also, the rotenone-containing extract obtained from those roots.
Local fishermen used barbasco to stun fish in the shallow streams.
Synonyms
Noun 2
a common name (especially in Mexico) for certain wild yams (e.g., Dioscorea species) used as a source of diosgenin for steroid manufacture.
During the mid-20th century, barbasco became economically important as a source of diosgenin for pharmaceutical synthesis.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2026/01/14 04:32