Meanings
plural Calabar beans
- A seed of a tropical leguminous plant of species Physostigma venenosum of tropical Africa, poisonous to humans.
Synonyms: ordeal bean
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA seed of a tropical leguminous plant of species Physostigma venenosum of tropical Africa, poisonous to humans.
More synonyms by meaning
noundark brown highly poisonous seed of the calabar-bean vine; source of physostigmine and used in native witchcraft
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From its ancient use in trial by ordeal in the Calabar region of Nigeria.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Calabar bean. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Calabar%20bean
“Calabar bean.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Calabar%20bean. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Calabar bean,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Calabar%20bean.
Source: Calabar bean on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.