sebum

See also: sébum

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sēbum (“tallow, grease; suet”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsibm̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: se‧bum

Noun

sebum (countable and uncountable, plural sebums or seba)

1. (physiology) A thick oily substance, secreted by the sebaceous glands of the skin, that consists of fat, keratin and cellular debris.
   • 2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 387:

     ‘I mean, it is not simply adolescent acne caused by the over-excretion of sebum.’

Derived terms

• sebaceous
• sebific
• seborrhagia
• seborrhea

Translations

thick oily substance

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: sèu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 皮脂 (pei⁴ zi¹)

  Mandarin: 皮脂 (zh) (pízhī)

• Czech: lůj (cs) m
• Dutch: talg (nl) m
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: tali (fi)
• French: sébum (fr) m
• German: Talg (de) m
• Hindi: त्वग्वसा (tvagvasā)
• Icelandic: húðfeiti f
• Italian: sebo (it) m
• Japanese: 皮脂 (ja) (ひし, hishi)
• Korean: 피지(皮脂) (ko) (piji), 개기름 (gaegireum) (slang)
• Latin: sebum n
• Polish: łój (pl) m
• Portuguese: sebo (pt) m
• Russian: ко́жное са́ло n (kóžnoje sálo)
• Slovak: maz
• Spanish: sebo (es) m
• Swedish: talg (sv) c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: bã nhờn

Anagrams

• embus

Latin

Alternative forms

• sēvum, saevum
• sēba, cēpum, cēpa (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (“to pour out”), whence also (through Proto-Germanic) sāpō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈseː.bũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛː.bum]

Noun

sēbum n (genitive sēbī); second declension

1. tallow, grease
2. suet
3. hard animal fat

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	sēbum	sēba
genitive	sēbī	sēbōrum
dative	sēbō	sēbīs
accusative	sēbum	sēba
ablative	sēbō	sēbīs
vocative	sēbum	sēba

Derived terms

• sēbāceus
• sēbālis
• sēbāx
• sēbō
• sēbōsus

Descendants

• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: sebu, seu
• Balkano-Romance:
  • Aromanian: seu
  • Romanian: seu
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Italian: sevo, sego
  • Neapolitan: sivo
  • Sicilian: sivu
  • Venetan: seo, sef
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: sêf
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Emilian: si, sèi, sè
  • Ligurian: sêu, sêvo, sêio
  • Lombard: sef, sif, seu
  • Piedmontese: sèiv, sòiv
  • Romagnol: sif, si, séi, sif
  • Sicilian Gallo-Italic: siu
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Old Franco-Provençal: sieu
    • Franco-Provençal: suif, sueif
  • Old French: seu, seuf
    • French: suif
    • ⇒ Anglo-Norman: suet, siuet
      • → Middle English: suet
        • English: suet
        • Scots: shuet
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: sèu
  • Occitan: seu
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: sevo
    • Galician: sebo
    • Portuguese: sebo
  • Spanish: sebo (see there for further descendants)

Borrowings:

• → English: sebum
• → Esperanto: sebo
• → French: sébum
  • → Romanian: sebum
• → Italian: sebo

References

• “sebum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sebum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “sebum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French sébum, from Latin sēbum.

Noun

sebum n (uncountable)

1. sebum

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	sebum	sebumul
genitive-dative	sebum	sebumului
vocative	sebumule