Meanings
- uncountableSpanish fly, Lytta vesicatoria (syn. Cantharis vesicatoria).
- uncountableSpanish fly; a vesicant extracted from the beetle, popularly held to have aphrodisiac properties.
Madame de Pompadour used tincture of cantharides to regain the love of Louis XV.
1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 564 more examples
I can make the most subtle sauces yield up their secret—whether it be white arsenic, rosalgar, mercury sublimate, or cantharides.
1926, Hope Mirrlees, chapter 26, in Lud-in-the-MistSpeaking her name, it was as if he spake pure cantharides. ‘Quick,’ she panted. ‘There is time before they are all about. Again.’
1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like The SunIt’s lucky that Carol had taken the precaution of obtaining some cantharides; without them the evening might have been a dead loss.
1992, Will Self, Cock and BullBasically Louis's drug dealer and pimp, Richelieu, known for opium recipes to fit all occasions, is also credited with the introduction into France of the cantharides, or Spanish fly.
2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 612
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Latincantharides
- Englishcantharides
Late Middle English, from Latin cantharides, plural of cantharis.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cantharides. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cantharides
“cantharides.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cantharides. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cantharides,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cantharides.
Source: cantharides on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.