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Glite Dictionary
🍼 A fine powder 🪨 A soft mineral
talcum

talcum

2 6.7
A very soft, fine mineral used to make powders and skin products
  • noun
  • /ˈtælkəm/
translation icon : talco
  • She was out the door and gone, a faint odor of talcum powder and Jim Beam trailing in her wake.
  • talcum powder

Examples

  • The surface material in southern Iraq is fine clay with the consistency of talcum powder.

    Academic text (2005)

  • A scent of lovely soap arose, a whiff of talcum.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Next, he examined a faint trace of talcum powder on the inner rim of the porcelain handle of the clothes cupboard.

    Academic text (1990)

  • Billboards with crimson goddesses nine feet tall advertising cinema films, pipe tobacco, and talcum powder.

    Academic text (2006)

  • She applied a generous amount of talcum powder to keep her skin dry in the heat.

  • The baby was lightly dusted with talcum to prevent diaper rash.

  • He chose a scented talcum powder to use after his shower for a fresh feeling.

Synonyms

talc
vstalcum
6 4.2

A very soft mineral used as a powder in cosmetics and baby powder

has identical meaning but usually appears in a fixed phrase referring to cosmetic powder

Compounds

talcum powder
5 2.7

A fine powder used on the skin to absorb moisture and prevent rubbing

Surface Forms

talcum singular
talcums plural

Morphology

talcum = talc (semi-transparent) = talc + um

The connection to 'talc' is clear, but '-um' is a Latin neuter ending not productive in English, so the form is learned rather than formed by a productive English suffix.

Etymology

Talcum comes from the same old name as the simpler word talc, for example Italian talco and probably Arabic talq. Those older words referred to a very 'soft' mineral that feels smooth, so talcum today means the soft mineral found in many products.