Word of the Day

: June 2, 2013

styptic

adjective STIP-tik

What It Means

: tending to contract or bind : astringent; especially : tending to check bleeding

styptic in Context

The vet advised that we keep a styptic agent handy while clipping the cat's claws, just in case.

"Alum contains aluminum sulfate and is found in styptic pencils and as astringents." - From a column by Pat Shingleton in The Advocate (Florida), April 13, 2013

Did You Know?

People long ago recognized the power of certain substances to bind or contract organic tissue-a quality that has various uses and benefits. English speakers weren't original in this knowledge, and they copied speakers of Greek, Latin, and Anglo-French when they designated this quality as "styptic" in the Middle Ages. (The word in Greek, "styptikos," is from "styphein," which means "to contract.") One thing that a styptic substance can do is stop bleeding, and almost from the start the word "styptic" has referred to this quality especially. It has also been applied to things that make your mouth contract, or pucker, as well as to substances that might affect your digestive organs with a "binding" effect.