gum arabic
noun
Forms gums arabic gum-arabic gumarabic
- noun An edible substance taken from one of two species of sub-Saharan acacia trees, Senegalia senegal and Vachellia seyal, used in the food industry as a stabilizer (e.g. in soda, gumdrops and marshmallows) and other purposes including pharmaceuticals, paints and polishes.
Synonyms
E414 when used as a thickener stabiliser emulsifier gum acacia acacia gum Arabian gum Arabic gum acacia Senegal gum Indian gum Kordofan gum
Etymology
gum + Arabic; the name was used in Arabic and other Middle Eastern languages since the 9th century (صَمْغ عَرَبِيّ (ṣamḡ ʕarabiyy)), and retained in the languages of Europeans who first acquired it via Arab ports.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “gum arabic”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details