starch
UK/ˈstɑːt͡ʃ//ˈstɑɹt͡ʃ/
starch noun: a widely diffused vegetable substance, found 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.
Noun
starch (countable and uncountable, plural starches)
- A widely diffused vegetable substance, found 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.
- Meronym: saccharide
- The various elements found in food are the following: Starch, sugar, fats, albumen, mineral substances, indigestible substances.1892, Ella Eaton Kellogg, “Foods”, in Science in the Kitchen: A Scientific Treatise on Food Substances and Their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of...
- Carbohydrates, as with grain and potato based foods.
- A stiff, formal manner; formality.
- 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, Visits1712 February 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, February 19, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 305; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […]...
- Fortitude.
- 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.2017, Dean Koontz, The Silent Corner, page 98
- Any of various starch-like substances used as a laundry stiffener.
- You're the starch in my collar / You're the lace in my shoe / You will always be my necessity / I'd be lost without you1928, “You're the Cream in My Coffee”, Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown (lyrics)
Verb
starch (third-person singular simple present starches, present participle starching, simple past and past participle starched)
Adjective
starch (not comparable)
starch meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
starch in Hindi
- substance
- स्टार्च sṭārc, कलफ़ kalaf
starch in Tamil
- மாச்சத்து, தரசம்
starch in Marathi
- स्टार्च, स्टार्चचा, स्टार्च करण्यासाठी
starch in Urdu
- کلف, کلپ, نشاستہ
More languagesFewer languages
- starch in Bengali
- মাড় maṛ
- starch in Malayalam
- അന്നജം, കഞ്ഞിപ്പശ, അയവില്ലാത്ത, ധാന്യകം
- starch in Kannada
- ಗಂಜಿ, ಹಿಟ್ಟು
- starch in Punjabi
- ਮੰਡਣਾ maṇḍṇā, ਮਾਇਆ māiā
- starch in Gujarati
- સ્ટાર્ચ, સ્ટાર્ચની, સ્ટાર્ચ કરવા
- starch in Odia
- ସ୍ଟାର୍ଚ, ଶ୍ବେତସାର, ସ୍ଟାର୍ଚ କରିବା ପାଇଁ
- starch in Assamese
- মাৰ mar
- starch in Nepali
- स्टार्च, स्टार्च गर्न
- starch in Tagalog
- almirol
- starch in Arabic
- نَشَاء našāʔ
- starch in Malay
- kanji
- starch in Indonesian
- amilum, pati
- starch in Persian
- نشاسته nešâste
- starch in Thai
- แป้ง bpɛ̂ɛng, ลงแป้ง
- starch in Vietnamese
- tinh bột
Examples of starch in a sentence
- Cellulose, starches, and complex carbohydrates, such as glycogen, are common polysaccharides in biology.
- Mashed potatoes is (or are) my favorite starch dish.
- The major reason that bread stales is not moisture loss, but rather a process called retrogradation, in which the starch molecules in the bread crystallize.
Forms of starch
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | starches |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | starches |
| present participle | starching |
| past participle | starched |
| past | starched |
Origin of starch
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 (“strong”), Middle Low German sterke (“strength”), German Stärke (“strength", also "starch”), Swedish stärkelse (“starch”), Icelandic sterkja (“starch”). Related to English stark (“stiff, strong, vigorous, powerful”).
Words formed from starch
- overstarch
- starchable
- starcher
- starchness
- animal starch
- clearstarch
- cornstarch
- destarch
- distarch
- hydroxypropyl starch
- hydroxypropyl starch glycerine
- hydroxypropyl starch phosphate
- maizestarch
- modified starch
- nitrostarch
- nonstarch
- pentastarch
- potato starch
- starch generator
- starch hyacinth
- starchless
- starchlike
- starchly
- starchman
- starch-root
- starchworks
- starchwort
- starchy
- tapioca starch
- tetrastarch
- tous-les-mois starch
- unstarch
- wheat starch
Phrases with starch
Words that rhyme with starch
Questions about starch
- What does starch mean?
- Starch means a widely diffused vegetable substance, found 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.
- What is starch in Hindi?
- Starch in Hindi is स्टार्च (sṭārc), कलफ़ (kalaf). See Starch meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is starch?
- Starch can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce starch?
- Starch is pronounced /ˈstɑːt͡ʃ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of starch?
- The plural of starch is starches.
Words near starch in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: starch (page history and authors); starch (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); starch (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); starch (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); মাড় (Bengali) (page history and authors); starch (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); starch (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਮਾਇਆ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); starch (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); starch (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); starch (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-starch.ogg.
Cite this entry: “starch.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/starch. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.