ergotism C2+ Topic:Plants & Agriculture US /ˈɜrɡəˌtɪzəm/ UK /ˈɜːɡəˌtɪzəm/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun poisoning caused by eating fungus-infected grain, causing convulsions or gangrene Medieval outbreaks of ergotism were blamed on contaminated rye bread. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · poisoning caused by eating... St. Anthony's fire Word family Related forms ergotergotamineergotize Etymology AI details From French ergotisme, from ergot 'the fungal growth on rye' (Old French argot 'cock's spur', of uncertain origin) + -ism. ergot French View etymology graph -> Topics Plants & Agriculture Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # ergotism **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈɜrɡəˌtɪzəm/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈɜːɡəˌtɪzəm/ ## Meanings 1. poisoning caused by eating fungus-infected grain, causing convulsions or gangrene ## Examples - Medieval outbreaks of ergotism were blamed on contaminated rye bread. ## Synonyms - St. Anthony's fire ## Related Forms - ergot - ergotamine - ergotize ## Roots and Affixes - Root: ergot ## Etymology From French ergotisme, from ergot 'the fungal growth on rye' (Old French argot 'cock's spur', of uncertain origin) + -ism. ## AI Etymology Ergotism is from French ergotisme, from ergot 'the fungal growth on rye' (Old French argot 'cock's spur', of uncertain origin) + -ism. In present-day use, it means poisoning caused by eating fungus-infected grain, causing convulsions or gangrene. Related vocabulary includes ergot, ergotamine, and ergotize. ## Topics - Plants & Agriculture - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown