TRAGACANTH

tragacanth

(noun) a gum used in pharmacy, adhesives, and textile printing

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

tragacanth (countable and uncountable, plural tragacanths)

A polysaccharide gum, extracted from several species of leguminous plants of the genus Astragalus, formerly used medicinally and now as a food additive. Also more fully gum tragacanth. [from 16th c.]

Synonyms

• E413 when used as a thickener, stabiliser and emulsifier

Source: Wiktionary


Trag"a*canth, n. Etym: [L. tragacanthum tragacanth, tragacantha the plant producing tragacanth, Gr. tragacanthe.]

Definition: A kind of gum procured from a spiny leguminous shrub (Astragalus gummifer) of Western Asia, and other species of Astragalus. It comes in hard whitish or yellowish flakes or filaments, and is nearly insoluble in water, but slowly swells into a mucilaginous mass, which is used as a substitute for gum arabic in medicine and the arts. Called also gum tragacanth.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

25 February 2025

ENDLESSLY

(adverb) (spatial sense) seeming to have no bounds; “the Nubian desert stretched out before them endlessly”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

An article published in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2012 shows heavy coffee drinkers live longer. The researchers examined data from 400,000 people and found out that men who drank six or more coffee cups per day had a 10% lower death rate.

coffee icon