Starch
nounA carbohydrate found in foods such as potatoes, rice and bread, also used as a stiffening agent for fabric.
How to spell starch
6 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce starch
What does starch mean?
- nounA carbohydrate found in foods such as potatoes, rice and bread, also used as a stiffening agent for fabric.
- verbTo stiffen fabric by treating it with a starch solution.
Starch in a sentence
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noun
The dietitian suggested cutting back on starch and sugar.
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verb
The hotel laundry will starch every uniform shirt before pressing.
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noun
A little spray starch keeps the shirt collars crisp.
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verb
She likes to starch the table linen for formal dinners.
Where does starch come from?
Language of origin: Germanic
Starch traces back to the Old English verb stercan, meaning 'to stiffen', which was closely related to the adjective stearc, 'stiff, rigid or strong'. That same Germanic root gives us the modern word 'stark', so 'starch' and 'stark' are quietly related cousins, both built on the idea of something rigid and unyielding. By the late medieval period the noun had settled into its laundry sense: the fine white substance, taken from wheat and other plants, that launderers boiled and used to make collars and linen stand up crisply. From there it broadened in the sciences to name the carbohydrate stored by plants in potatoes, rice and grain. The spelling has stayed remarkably steady, with the simple 'st-' opening and the 'arch' ending that an adult can hear clearly, which is why it rarely trips writers up.
How the word is built
- starch (from Old English stearc: stiff, strong); single Germanic root, no affixes
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