also: ヒマシゆ
castor oil
A vegetable oil obtained from castor beans, used as a laxative or industrial lubricant.
Castor oil was often used as a laxative in the past.
Standard mixed kanji-kana spelling.
Full kanji form using rare characters; mainly encountered in older or technical texts.
Katakana variant of the plant name; less common but seen in some contexts.
From ひまし (castor bean) + 油 (oil). The word ひまし is thought to derive from the plant's scientific name Ricinus, possibly via Portuguese or Dutch, but the exact path is uncertain.