esculent
Syllables: es·cul·ent/ˈɛskjʊlənt/US/ˈɛskjələnt/
esculent adjective: suitable for eating; eatable, edible.
Adjective
esculent (comparative more esculent, superlative most esculent)
- Suitable for eating; eatable, edible.
- [T]he Lacedæmonians, […] had proclaimed that any man that would, ſhould carry in Meale, Wine, Cheeſe, and all other eſculents neceſſary for a Siege, into the Iland, appointing for the ſame a great reward of ſiluer: […]1629, Thucydides, “The Fourth Booke”, in Thomas Hobbes, transl., Eight Bookes of the Peloponnesian Warre […], London: […] Hen[ry] Seile, […], →OCLC, page 226
- Now may you Tranſplant moſt ſorts of Eſculent, or Phyſical plants, &c.1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “Kalendarium Hortense: Or, The Gard’ners Almanac; […] [September.]”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […]...
- Synonyms:
- comestible, consumable, eatable, eatworthy, edible, nibbleable, stomachable, palatable
- Antonyms:
- inesculent, incomestible, indigestible, inedible, nonedible, unconsumable, uneatable
- “Good enough to eat”; attractive.
- [H]ow could she have known that Harry had written in his notebook, shortly before he encountered her comely, esculent self, "Better that her neck should bear the traces of my loving teeth"? Better than what? One is afraid to ask.1976, Geoffrey Wolff, chapter 9, in Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 142
- My custodian was now the 'Old Bill', the magistrate was one of those soppy, earnest chaps who long to hear of broken homes and deprived childhoods and Johanna was looking esculent in a cinnamon sheath such as you could not buy with a lifetime's trading-stamps.1979, Kyril Bonfiglioli, “After You with the Pistol”, in The Mortdecai Trilogy, London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 334
- Synonyms:
- attractive, beauteous, beautifool, beautiful, beautimous, bona vardering, bonnie, breathtaking, captivating, comely
Noun
esculent (plural esculents)
- Something edible, especially a vegetable; a comestible.
- Thou neuer hadſt in thy houſe to ſtay mens ſtomackes / A peece of Suffolke cheeſe, or Gammon of Bacon, / Or any eſculent, as the learned call it, / For their emolument, but ſheere drinke only.1625 (date written), Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts: A Comœdie […], London: […] E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seyle, […], published 1633, →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii
- [T]here is a double Vſe of this Cutting off the Leaues: For in Plants, where the Root is the Eſculent, as Radiſh, and Parſnips, it will make the Root the greater: And ſo it will doe to the Heads of Onions. And where the Fruit is the Eſculent, by Strengthening the Root, it will make the Fruit alſo...1631, Francis [Bacon], “V. Century. [Experiments in Consort, Touching the Melioration of Fruits, Trees, and Plants.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition...
- Synonyms:
- eatable, edible, victual, aliment, bait, belly-timber, chow, comestibles, cuisine, eatables
- An edible mushroom.
- In a raw state, a piece the size of a pea of either of the three fungi above-mentioned, if placed on the tongue, would cause intolerable agony. Possibly if well cooked some of the poisonous principles might vanish, but we question whether such species should be mentioned amongst esculents in a...1887 January, W. G. S., “Text-book of British Fungi. By W. De Lisle Hay [i.e., William Delisle Hay], F.R.G.S. Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey & Co. [book review]”, in James Britten, editor, The Journal of...
- [Morchella] esculentoides [is] similar to Morchella esculenta, a European esculent, whose name, appropriately, means "edible".2015, Vera Stucky Evenson, Denver Botanic Gardens, Mushrooms of the Rocky Mountain Region: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Portland, Or.: Timber Press, →ISBN
esculent meaning in Tamil and Bengali
esculent in Tamil
- உண்ணக்கூடிய
esculent in Bengali
- খাদ্য হিসেবে উপযোগী
Examples of esculent in a sentence
- [M]oſt of the fungi are indeed of a hurtful quality, and with reſpect to the whole tribe the eſculent are very few.1775, William Cullen, “Mushrooms”, in Lectures on the Materia Medica, as Delivered by William Cullen, M.D. […], Philadelphia, Pa.: […]...
- Nicolas Venette, French physician, refers to skirret, a plant that has esculent tubers, for its high aphrodisiac potential.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 224:
- From the early 1820s, evidence emerges for Chinese activities in coastal Burma's esculent bird's nest trade.2004, Michael Walter Charney, “Esculent Bird’s Nest, Tin, and Fish: The Overseas Chinese and Their Trade in the Eastern Bay of Bengal...
- But beyond plants esculent and floral, John Quincey Adams favored trees.2016, Marta McDowell, “Gentleman’s Occupation: 1810s–1830s”, in All the Presidents’ Gardens: Madison’s Cabbages to Kennedy’s Roses—How the...
Synonyms of esculent
- comestible
- consumable
- eatable
- eatworthy
- edible
- nibbleable
- stomachable
- palatable
- attractive
- beauteous
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
- inesculent
- incomestible
- indigestible
- inedible
- nonedible
- unconsumable
- uneatable
Forms of esculent
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more esculent |
| superlative | most esculent |
| Noun | |
| plural | esculents |
Origin of esculent
Learned borrowing from Latin ēsculentus (“fit for eating, eatable, edible; good to eat, delicious; nourishing; full of food”) + English -ent (suffix forming adjectives with the sense of causing, doing, or promoting a certain action). Ēsculentus is derived from ēsca (“food; dish prepared for the table; bait”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”)) + -ulentus (suffix meaning ‘abounding in, full of’ forming adjectives).
Words formed from esculent
Phrases with esculent
Questions about esculent
- What does esculent mean?
- Esculent means suitable for eating; eatable, edible.
- What is esculent in Tamil?
- Esculent in Tamil is உண்ணக்கூடிய. See Esculent meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use esculent in a sentence?
- [M]oſt of the fungi are indeed of a hurtful quality, and with reſpect to the whole tribe the eſculent are very few.
- What part of speech is esculent?
- Esculent can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce esculent?
- Esculent is pronounced /ˈɛskjʊlənt/ (UK).
Words near esculent in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: esculent (page history and authors); esculent (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); esculent (Bengali Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-esculent.wav.
Cite this entry: “esculent.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/esculent. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.