latex
/ˈleɪˌtɛks/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.40 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A clear liquid believed to be a component of a humour or other bodily fluid (esp. plasma and lymph).
Archaic; Countable; Uncountable
noun
The milky sap of several trees that coagulates on exposure to air; used to make rubber.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Natural latex rubber, especially nonvulcanized rubber, such as is used in making latex gloves, latex condoms, and latex clothing.
Countable; Uncountable
name
A digital typesetting system for mathematical and scientific formulae layout, based on TeX; often stylized as LaTeX.
Etymology
Borrowed from New Latin latex (“clear fluid which is part of a humour or bodily fluid”), a later use of Latin latex (“water; liquid, fluid”). Potentially a borrowing from Ancient Greek λᾰ́τᾰξ (lắtăx, “drop of wine”), reformed by analogy to other nouns in -ex. The semantic shift, however, from drop of wine to water is difficult to explain and may indicate that both words originated from a separate language. Perhaps from the same root as Proto-Celtic *latis (Old Irish laith (“liquid, beer”), Welsh llad (“beer”)) or Proto-Germanic *ladjō- (Old High German letto (“clay, loam”), Old Norse leðja (“mud, dregs”)) or from a Pre-Greek language.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: latex
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈleɪˌtɛks/
- British English: /ˈleɪtɛks/