The verb appears in late Middle English for stiffening with starch and is tied to Old English forms meaning make rigid. The noun first named a paste used to stiffen or whiten cloth, then the plant carbohydrate used in food.
FAQ
What does starch mean in food?
Starch is a plant carbohydrate made of linked glucose, common in potatoes, rice, corn, wheat, and other staple foods.
Is starch the same as sugar?
No. Starch is a complex carbohydrate made from many glucose units, while table sugar is a smaller sweet carbohydrate.
What is laundry starch?
Laundry starch is a powder, spray, or liquid used before ironing to make cloth crisp and help it hold its shape.
Can starch be a verb?
Yes. To starch a shirt, collar, or napkin is to treat it with starch so it becomes crisp or stiff.
What does figurative starch mean?
Figurative starch can mean stiff formality, informal vigor, or the act of making language or behavior rigidly formal.
Can starch be an adjective?
Yes, but it is rare. Adjective starch means formal or stiff, especially of a person, and starchy is usually more natural.
Where does starch come from?
Starch is tied to older Germanic words for stiffness. Its cloth-stiffening sense came before the modern food chemistry sense.
Comments & contributions
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Loyal Hoopoe
Aug 14
starch still makes me think of school uniforms before potatoes lol
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Fond Hornbill
Aug 13
En mi casa decimos maicena para la de cocinar, almidon suena mas de quimica.
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Loyal Frog
Aug 12
never knew the shirt-collar meaning was that old, neat little word history
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Eager Macaw
Aug 10
take the starch out of him is an old US-ish idiom for knocking someone's nerve or confidence down. Real phrase, just not something I'd put in a job email.
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Wild Loon
Aug 7
i would not teach starch as an everyday adjective. 'a starchy professor' sounds normal, 'a starch professor' sounds like something from an old novel or a dictionary example
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Goofy Mole
Aug 5
Laundry starch goes on clean cloth before pressing. It won't lift collar grime, and if you overdo spray starch the iron soleplate gets gunky fast.
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Soft Quail
Jul 28
At the dry cleaner 'light starch' and 'heavy starch' are real choices. Heavy keeps collars sharp but it can feel cardboardy, especially when its hot.
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Hazel Yak
Jul 27
Plural starches is normal when you're talking food groups: bread, rice, pasta, potatoes. I wouldnt say 'the starches in this spoon of powder' unless I'm talking chemistry.
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Cloudy Lemming
Jul 24
Cooks say potato starch and cornstarch like they are interchangeable, but potato starch gives more of a clear glossy glaze. Nice for stir fry, a bit weird if you wanted brown gravy.
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Wise Beaver
Jul 23
For sauces you usually make a slurry with cold water first. If you throw dry corn starch straight into hot liquid, the outside gels and you get little white lumps that never really forgive you.
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Silver Loon
Jul 21
Recipe labels are messy here. In US recipes cornstarch is the white squeaky powder for thickening. In UK/Aus recipes cornflour often means that same thing, not yellow corn meal. I have ruined gravy with this once, dont ask