Berberine

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A bitter yellow alkaloid found in plants such as barberry and goldenseal, used in traditional medicine and studied for its biological effects
2. A yellow plant-derived chemical compound of the isoquinoline alkaloid family, extracted from roots and bark and investigated for antimicrobial properties
3. An organic yellow substance occurring naturally in certain herbs and shrubs, valued historically as a dye and in folk remedies

Etymology: Berberine is named after the barberry shrub, genus Berberis, whose roots and bark yield the compound. The name combines "berberis" with the chemical suffix "-ine," the standard ending for alkaloids and other nitrogen-containing substances, so the word simply records where the chemical was first found. The barberry plant itself has a name with its own twist. Its Latin genus name "berberis" was borrowed into English and other European languages from Arabic "barbaris," and it is that plant name, not any reference to the compound, that the chemistry word inherits. Early botanists knew barberry bark as a source of yellow dye, and that colour is part of why the plant was studied in the first place. Berberine is now used as a yellow dye and has been studied in traditional medicine for its effects on bacteria and blood sugar. Its name, though, is a plain record of a chemist naming a substance after the plant that supplied it.