catechu
UK /ˈkæt.ɪt͡ʃ.uː/ · US /ˈkæt.əˌt͡ʃuː/ noun
Forms catechus cacho cachou cashoo catchoo cutch catechew
- noun A gummy extract of any of several species of Acacieae, but especially Senegalia catechu, produced by boiling the wood of the tree in water and evaporating the resulting liquid.
Synonyms
Etymology
Probably a corruption of the Malay kacu.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A dry, brown, astringent extract, obtained by decoction and evaporation from the Acacia catechu, and several other plants growing in India. It contains a large portion of tannin or tannic acid, and is used in medicine and in the arts. It is also known by the names terra japonica, cutch, gambier, etc. Ure. Dunglison.
Etymology [See Cashoo.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “catechu”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details