Word.ws English Dictionary

cathartine

cathartine noun: a hypothetical substance formerly imagined to cause the bitterness and purgativeness of the dried leaves or pods of senna plants.

Noun

cathartine (uncountable)

  1. A hypothetical substance formerly imagined to cause the bitterness and purgativeness of the dried leaves or pods of senna plants.
    • The sulphate of potash insoluble in this fluid, being separated by the filter; the excess of sulphuric acid was precipitated by acetate of lead; then, by decomposing this latter salt, by sulphuretted hydrogen, and again filtering and evaporating to dryness, the Cathartine, or purgative principle of...1822, “The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, Volume 7”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)
    • In this state this residue has all the properties ascribed to cathartine; but it is easy to be convinced, from the colour and the avidity with which it attracts moisture, that the substance is not pure.1850, “The Chemical Gazette, Volume 8”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)

Origin of cathartine

From cathartic + -ine.

Questions about cathartine

What does cathartine mean?
Cathartine means a hypothetical substance formerly imagined to cause the bitterness and purgativeness of the dried leaves or pods of senna plants.
What part of speech is cathartine?
Cathartine is a noun.

Words near cathartine in the dictionary

  1. cathartid
  2. cathartids
  3. cathartiform
  4. cathartiforms
  5. cathartin
  6. cathartine
  7. catharting
  8. catharts
  9. cathasterone
  10. Cathay
  11. Cathayan

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cathartine (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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