Latex

How to spell latex

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce latex

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does latex mean?

1. nounA milky fluid produced by certain plants, or the natural or synthetic rubber substance made from or resembling it.

Latex in a sentence

• The nurse snapped on a pair of thin latex gloves before the examination.

• Some people develop an allergic reaction to latex in balloons and elastic bands.

Where does latex come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes directly from the Latin latex, which simply meant 'liquid', 'fluid', or 'a watery clear sap'. Latin had in turn borrowed the idea from Greek latax, describing the dregs or remaining drops in a wine cup. English took up the word in the seventeenth century as a learned scientific term, originally referring to any clear liquid, before botanists narrowed it in the eighteenth century to the milky, often sticky fluid that oozes from cut plants such as rubber trees, poppies, and figs. Once chemists learned to process that milky tree sap into rubber, the same word carried forward to name the synthetic and natural rubber materials we use today, from gloves to paint to mattresses. The spelling stays close to its Latin source, with the slightly surprising '-ex' ending that English kept intact rather than softening to '-ix' or '-ics'.

How the word is built

• latex (Latin root meaning 'liquid' or 'fluid'); a single unbroken root with no prefix or suffix