psilocybin
See also: Psilocybin
English
Etymology
Borrowed from German Psilocybin (coined by Albert Hofmann), from translingual Psilocybe (“genus of mushroom”) + -in.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌsʌɪ.lə(ʊ)ˈsʌɪ.bɪn/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌsɪ.ləˈsaɪ.bɪn/, /ˌsaɪ-/
Noun
psilocybin (countable and uncountable, plural psilocybins)
- (biochemistry) A hallucinogenic alkaloid, C12H15N2O·H2PO3, present in several species of Central American mushroom and producing effects similar to LSD. The prodrug of psilocin.
- 2005, Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home, Simon & Schuster, page 70:
- The problem of the mushroom supply was solved straight away when Leary learned from a graduate student named George Litwin that a chemist at the Sandoz Corporation, Dr. Albert Hofmann, had recently synthesized the psychoactive molecule of the mushroom, calling it psilocybin.
- 2019 January 29, Tom Bissell, “An Anti-Facebook Manifesto”, in New York Times:
- It’s no stretch to posit that because human neurotransmitters respond to the platform’s iconic use of a certain shade of blue, and spark with dopamine upon receiving a “like” or “tag” notification, desperate children are now living in cages and a raving madman occupies the Oval Office. Not even Orwell, after a feast of psilocybin, could have predicted this dystopia.
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Related terms
- psilocin
- Psilocybe semilanceata
Translations
hallucinogenic alkaloid
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See also
- magic mushroom
References
- “psilocybin”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “psilocybin”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary