bittern
Pronunciation: /ˈbɪtən/
The English word “bittern” has 4 meanings listed here.
noun
- Several bird species in the Botaurinae subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae.
- The liquor remaining after halite (common salt) has been harvested from saline water (brine).
- The saline substance added to soy milk to coagulate it as a primary step in the production of tofu.
- A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer.
Etymology
From Middle English bitour, botor, from Old French butor, from Gallo-Roman *butitaurus, a blend of Latin būtiō (“bittern”) and taurus (“bull, ox”).
Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “bittern” there
More English words
About this dictionary
The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.
Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.