Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

sebum

/ˈsiːbəm/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.15 in modern English

Syllables: se-bum
IPA: /ˈsiːbəm/

9

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A thick oily substance, secreted by the sebaceous glands of the skin, that consists of fat, keratin and cellular debris.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"‘I mean, it is not simply adolescent acne caused by the over-excretion of sebum.’"

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sēbum (“tallow, grease; suet”).

Usage

Inflected Forms

sebums (plural) seba (plural)

Derived Forms

sebaceous sebific seborrhagia seborrhea

Questions

How do you pronounce sebum?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈsiːbəm/.
What does sebum mean?: A thick oily substance, secreted by the sebaceous glands of the skin, that consists of fat, keratin and cellular debris.
Where does sebum come from?: Learned borrowing from Latin sēbum (“tallow, grease; suet”).

How to pronounce sebum

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “sebum”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈsiːbəm/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “sebum”.
Repeat and practice — Say “sebum” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.