Meanings
nouncantharidin (plural cantharidins)
plural cantharidins
- chemistryA volatile organic compound secreted by blister beetles.
Cantharidin, although readily decomposed by chemical agents, is so permanent in the body that it has been detected in the corpse of a cat eighty-four days after death.
1885, Alexander Wynter Blyth, Poisons, Their Effects and Detection: A Manual for the Use of Analytical Chemists and Experts, volume I, New York: William Wood and Co., page 430
Cite this entry
APA
cantharidin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cantharidin
MLA
“cantharidin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cantharidin. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cantharidin,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cantharidin.
Source: cantharidin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.