Word of the Day

: October 19, 2014

esculent

adjective ESS-kyuh-lunt

What It Means

: edible

esculent in Context

Morels are esculent mushrooms and are delicious, but be warned that there are also false morels, which are poisonous.

"The berry, which has two to three times more antioxidants than blueberries, falls from what the Brazilians call 'The Tree of Life', with about 90 per cent being inedible, but the esculent skin of the aҫaí tastes like a vibrant blend of berries and dark chocolate." - Sarah O'Brien, Newcastle Herald (Australia), December 14, 2013

Did You Know?

One appealing thing about esculent is that this word, which comes from the Latin for food (esca), has been around for over 375 years. If we give you just one more tidbit of etymology-that esca is from Latin edere, which means "to eat"-can you pick which of the following words is NOT related to esculent? Comestible, edacious, edible, escalade, escarole, or obese. Comestible (meaning "edible"), edacious (meaning "voracious"), edible, escarole (a type of salad green), and obese are all descendants of edere. Only escalade (meaning "an act of scaling walls") doesn't belong on the list. It descends from the Italian scalare, meaning "to scale."