saponin
/ˈsæpənɪn/ noun
Forms saponins
- noun (organic chemistry, biochemistry) Any of various steroid glycosides found in plant tissues that dissolve in water to give a soapy froth.
Etymology
From sapon- + -in.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A poisonous glucoside found in many plants, as in the root of soapwort (Saponaria), in the bark of soap bark (Quillaia), etc. It is extracted as a white amorphus powder, which occasions a soapy lather in solution, and produces a local anæstesia. Formerly called also struthiin, quilaiin, senegin, polygalic acid, etc. By extension, any one of a group of related bodies of which saponin proper is the type.
Etymology [L. sapo, -onis soap: cf. F. saponine.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “saponin”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details