starch

English

Etymology

From Middle English starche, sterche, from Old English *stierċe (“stiffness, rigidity, strength”), from Proto-West Germanic *starkī (“stiffness, rigidity, fortitude, strength”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sterg- (“stiff, rigid”). Cognate with dialectal Dutch sterk (“starch”), Middle Low German sterke (“strength”), German Stärke (“strength", also "starch”), Swedish stärkelse (“starch”), Icelandic sterkja (“starch”). Related to English stark (“stiff, strong, vigorous, powerful”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /stɑɹtʃ/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /stɑːtʃ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)tʃ

Noun

starch (countable and uncountable, plural starches)

1. (uncountable) A widely diffused vegetable substance, found especially in seeds, bulbs and tubers, as extracted (e.g. from potatoes, corn, rice, etc.) in the form of a white, glistening, granular or powdery substance, without taste or smell, and giving a very peculiar creaking sound when rubbed between the fingers. It is used as a food, in the production of commercial grape sugar, for stiffening linen in laundries, in making paste, etc.
2. (nutrition, countable) Carbohydrates, as with grain and potato based foods.
3. (uncountable) A stiff, formal manner; formality.
   • 1712 March 1, Joseph Addison, “TUESDAY, February 19, 1711–1712 [Julian calendar]”, in The Spectator, number 305; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume IV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:

     this Professor is to give the society their stiffening, and infuse into their manners that beautiful political starch, which may qualify them for Levées, Conferences, Visits

4. (uncountable) Fortitude.
   • 2017, Dean Koontz, The Silent Corner, page 98:

     The thought of the gun in his back put some starch in him. He needed the handrail, and he limped step by step, but he ascended at his full height.

5. (countable) Any of various starch-like substances used as a laundry stiffener

Derived terms

• starchy
• cornstarch
• potato starch

Translations

substance

• Albanian: koll (sq) f
• Arabic: نَشَاء‎ (našāʾ)
• Armenian: օսլա (hy) (ōsla)
• Assamese: মাৰ (mar)
• Belarusian: крухма́л m (kruxmál)
• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: midó m
• Cebuano: tayubong
• Chamicuro: almelone
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 澱粉, 淀粉 (din⁶ fan²)

  Hakka: 澱粉, 淀粉 (thien-fún)

  Mandarin: 澱粉 (zh), 淀粉 (zh) (diànfěn)

  Min Nan: 澱粉, 淀粉 (tiān-hún)

• Czech: škrob m
• Danish: stivelse
• Dutch: zetmeel (nl)
• Esperanto: amelo
• Estonian: tärklis (et)
• Finnish: tärkkelys (fi)
• French: amidon (fr) m
• Galician: amidón (gl) m
• Gallurese: madoni
• Georgian: სახამებელი (saxamebeli)
• German: Stärke (de) f
• Greek: άμυλο (el) n (ámylo)

  Ancient: ἄμυλον n (ámulon)

• Hebrew: עֲמִילָן‎ (he) m (amilan)
• Higaonon: tayobong
• Hindi: स्टार्च m (sṭārc), कलफ़ m (kalaf)
• Hungarian: keményítő (hu)
• Italian: amido (it) m
• Japanese: デンプン (denpun), 澱粉 (でんぷん, denpun)
• Kalmyk: цавг (tsavg)
• Khmer: បិដ្ឋជាតិ (be’dtʰɑ ciet)
• Korean: 녹말 (ko) (nongmal)

• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: amylum
• Latvian: ciete, stērķele f (archaism)
• Lithuanian: krakmolas
• Macedonian: скроб m (skrob), ни́шесте n (níšeste)
• Malay: kanji (ms) n
• Maltese: lamtu m
• Maori: tāhi, māngaro
• Mongolian: цардуул (mn) (tsarduul)
• Norman: amidon m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stivelse m

  Nynorsk: stivelse m

• Occitan: empés m, amidon m
• Persian: نشاسته‎ (fa) (nešâste)
• Polish: skrobia (pl) f
• Portuguese: amido (pt) m, fécula (pt) f
• Romanian: amidon (ro)
• Russian: крахма́л (ru) m (kraxmál)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: gròru, madoni

  Logudorese: madone, midone

• Sassarese: madoni
• Serbo-Croatian: škrob (sh) m, шкроб
• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: škrob (sk)
• Spanish: almidón (es) m
• Swedish: stärkelse (sv) c
• Tagalog: almirol (tl)
• Thai: แป้ง (th) (bpɛ̂ɛng)
• Turkish: nişasta (tr)
• Turkmen: krahmal
• Ukrainian: крохма́ль m (kroxmálʹ)
• Vietnamese: tinh bột (vi)

carbohydrates

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 碳水化合物 (zh) (tànshuǐhuàhéwù)

• Czech: škrob m
• Danish: stivelse
• Dutch: zetmeel (nl) n
• Finnish: tärkkelys (fi)
• French: amidon (fr) m
• German: Stärke (de) f
• Hebrew: עֲמִילָן‎ (he) m (amilan)
• Indonesian: pati (id)
• Italian: amido (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: nîşa (ku) f

• Latvian: ciete f
• Macedonian: скроб m (skrob), нишесте n (nišeste)

• Maori: tāhi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stivelse m

• Polish: skrobia (pl) f
• Portuguese: amido (pt) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: скроб m, шкроб

  Roman: skrob m, škrob (sh) m

• Spanish: almidón (es) m
• Swedish: stärkelse (sv)
• Tagalog: almirol (tl)
• Thai: แป้ง (th) (bpɛ̂ɛng)

stiff manner

• Finnish: jäykkyys (fi)
• French: rigidité (fr) f
• German: Steifheit (de) f
• Irish: ardnós m

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stivhet m or f

• Polish: sztywność (pl) f
• Serbo-Croatian: uštogljenost (sh) f

laundry stiffener

• Catalan: midó
• Dutch: stijfsel (nl) n
• Finnish: tärkki (fi)
• French: apprêt (fr) m, empois (fr) m, cati (fr) m
• Gallurese: madoni
• German: Wäschestärke f, Wäschesteife f
• Italian: appretto (it) m, amido (it) m
• Macedonian: штирак m (štirak)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stivelse m

• Polish: krochmal (pl) m
• Portuguese: goma (pt) f
• Russian: крахма́л (ru) m (kraxmál)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: gròru, madoni

  Logudorese: madone, midone

• Sassarese: madoni
• Serbo-Croatian: škrobilo (sh) n
• Spanish: almidón (es) m
• Tagalog: almirol (tl)
• Turkish: kola (tr), çamaşır kolası

Verb

starch (third-person singular simple present starches, present participle starching, simple past and past participle starched)

1. To apply or treat with laundry starch, to create a hard, smooth surface.

   She starched her blouses.

Translations

apply laundry starch

• Catalan: emmidonar (ca)
• Esperanto: ameli, amelumi
• Finnish: tärkätä (fi)
• French: amidonner (fr)
• Galician: amidonar (gl)
• German: stärken (de)
• Italian: inamidare, apprettare (it)
• Macedonian: штирка (štirka)

• Polish: krochmalić (pl)
• Portuguese: engomar (pt)
• Russian: накрахма́ливать (ru) (nakraxmálivatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: škrobiti (sh)
• Slovak: škrobiť, naškrobiť
• Spanish: almidonar (es)
• Swedish: stärka (sv)
• Thai: ลงแป้ง

Adjective

starch (not comparable)

1. Stiff; precise; rigid.
   • 1713, John Killingbeck, Eighteen sermons on practical subjects

     misrepresenting Sobriety as a Starch and Formal, and Vertue as a Laborious and Slavish thing

Derived terms

• starchness

Translations

stiff

• Dutch: stijf (nl), precies (nl), rigide (nl)
• Finnish: jäykkä (fi)

• Portuguese: duro (pt), preciso (pt), rígido (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian: uštogljeno

References

• starch in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• charts, crasht, trachs

---

Cimbrian

Adjective

starch

1. strong
2. loud

References

• Umberto Patuzzi, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar, Luserna: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien