aconite

noun

ac·​o·​nite ˈa-kə-ˌnīt 

plural aconites

1

: monkshood

2

: the dried poisonous tuberous root of a common monkshood (Aconitum napellus) used especially formerly for its medicinal properties (as in relieving pain)

3

: winter aconite

… they began planting one million daffodil, crocus, and aconite bulbs.

—Walter Karp

Examples of aconite in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Winter aconite Often blooming as early as late winter, Winter aconite's cheerful, golden-yellow flowers appear even through snow, signaling that spring is on its way. — Asia London Palomba, The Spruce, 22 Jan. 2026

Nathaniel Hawthorne alludes to wolfsbane’s association with witchcraft in Young Goodman Brown, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle references infamous nineteenth-century aconite poisonings in one of Sherlock’s cases, The Adventure of the Speckled Band. — Laura Murphy, JSTOR Daily, 28 Feb. 2025

Wildflowers, like delicate white snowdrops and brilliant yellow aconite, are beginning to flower several months early. — Dharna Noor, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Feb. 2023

Winter aconite, which reach 3 to 4 inches in height, is easy to grow and will prosper in full sun or dappled shade and will form large colonies, spreading by seed. — Tim Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 4 Apr. 2021

Snowdrops have been flowering for a week, the aconite about to burst. — Heather E. Goodman, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Feb. 2021

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French, borrowed from Latin aconītum, borrowed from Greek akónīton, perhaps of pre-Greek substratal origin

Note: The notion in late antiquity that the word was derived from Greek akonit́ī "without dust," hence, "without a struggle, effortless," referring to the efficacy of the poison, is fanciful.

First Known Use

1548, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing aconite

• winter aconite

Rhymes for aconite

• acolyte
• allanite
• alunite
• amberlite
• ammonite
• amorite
• amphitrite
• analyte
• anchorite
• andesite
• anhydrite
• ankerite

Kids Definition

aconite

noun

ac·​o·​nite ˈak-ə-ˌnīt 

1

: monkshood

2

: a drug obtained from the poisonous root of the common Old World monkshood

Medical Definition

aconite

noun

ac·​o·​nite ˈak-ə-ˌnīt 

1

: monkshood

2

: the dried tuberous root of a monkshood (Aconitum napellus) formerly used as a cardiac and respiratory sedative