starch-thickening
|starch-thick-en-ing|
🇺🇸
/ˈstɑrtʃˌθɪkənɪŋ/
🇬🇧
/ˈstɑːtʃˌθɪkənɪŋ/
make thicker with starch
Etymology
'starch-thickening' is a modern English compound formed from 'starch' and 'thickening'. 'starch' comes from Old English 'stearc' (or 'stearca'), meaning 'stiff' or 'strong', and 'thickening' derives from the verb 'thicken', formed from the adjective 'thick' with the causative suffix '-en'.
'starch' passed into Middle English from Old English and is related to Germanic words (e.g. Old High German 'starc'); 'thicken' developed in Middle English by adding '-en' to 'thick', producing verbs meaning 'to make thick', and the compound 'starch-thickening' arose in modern English usage to describe thickening by starch.
Originally 'starch' referred to stiffness (and the substance used to stiffen fabrics); over time the noun came to denote the substance itself used in cooking and other processes, and combined with 'thicken' it now specifically denotes thickening accomplished using starch.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a thickening agent or process that uses starch to increase the viscosity or body of a liquid (often in cooking or food processing).
The soup needed a starch-thickening to give it more body.
Synonyms
Adjective 1
describing something that thickens (a sauce, soup, etc.) by means of starch.
Use a starch-thickening method rather than egg-based thickening for clarity.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/08/26 23:25