Meanings
plural mucilages
- uncountableusuallyA thick gluey substance (gum) produced by many plants and some microorganisms.
Malt liquors […] are distinguished from wine, chiefly by the larger quantity of mucilage and saccharine matter […]
1821, Friedrich Accum, A Treatise on the Art of Brewing, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, page 5Synonyms: vegetable mucus
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA thick gluey substance (gum) produced by many plants and some microorganisms.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinmūcilāgō“musty or moldy juice”
- Middle Frenchmucilage“viscous substance found in vegetable material”
- Middle Englishmuscilage
- Englishmucilage
From Middle English muscilage, mussillage, from Middle French mucilage (“viscous substance found in vegetable material”), from Late Latin mūcilāgō (“musty or moldy juice”). See Greek μούχλα (moúchla, “mold”), and related derivatives, for example mushroom, from *meus- (“mosses, mold, mildew”).
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian клей
- клей (klej)thick gluey substance produced by many plants
Dutch gom, slijmstof
- gomthick gluey substance produced by many plants
- slijmstofthick gluey substance produced by many plants
Finnish kasviliima
- kasviliimathick gluey substance produced by many plants
French mucilage
- mucilagethick gluey substance produced by many plants
German Schleimstoff
- Schleimstoffthick gluey substance produced by many plants
Polish śluz
- śluzthick gluey substance produced by many plants
Portuguese mucilagem
- mucilagemthick gluey substance produced by many plants
Spanish mucílago, mucilago
- mucílagothick gluey substance produced by many plants
- mucilagothick gluey substance produced by many plants
Turkish müsilaj
- müsilajthick gluey substance produced by many plants
Welsh llyslyn
- llyslynthick gluey substance produced by many plants
Cite this entry
mucilage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mucilage
“mucilage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mucilage. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mucilage,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mucilage.
Source: mucilage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.