Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
gum butea

gum butea

9.9
A dried sticky juice from the dhak tree used in medicine to help red, sore skin
  • noun
  • Indian
translation icon : goma butea
  • The herbalist recommended gum butea for its astringent properties.

Examples

  • They collected gum butea from the dhak trees to prepare a topical ointment.

  • The herbalist recommended gum butea for its soothing properties on inflamed skin.

  • In traditional medicine, gum butea has been prized for its astringent effects.

  • Many people use gum butea in traditional medicine.

  • In traditional medicine, gum butea has been prized for its astringent effects.

  • The herbalist recommended gum butea for its soothing properties on inflamed skin.

  • They collected gum butea from the dhak trees to prepare a topical ointment.

Synonyms

butea gum
vsgum butea
  • Indian
9.9

A sticky plant substance from the dhak tree used to help heal small wounds

is the same substance but with alternate word order in naming
butea kino
vsgum butea
  • Indian
9.9

A reddish dried juice from the dhak tree used to make skin and leather feel tight

is focused on astringent use rather than tanning or dyeing
Bengal kino
vsgum butea
  • UK
9.9

A reddish dried juice from the dhak tree used to dye cloth and to help heal wounds

is the general resinous juice used mainly as an astringent

Surface Forms

gum butea singular
gum buteas plural

Morphology

gum + Butea

The compound is directly compositional: 'gum' denotes a resinous substance and 'Butea' names the tree genus, so a B1 learner who knows both would infer it is the resin from the Butea tree. This follows common naming patterns for plant resins (e.g. 'gum arabic'), making the meaning predictable from the parts.

Etymology

Gum butea is the dried, sticky sap, the gum, taken from the Butea tree called the dhak. People collected the hardened sap and used it on cuts and sore skin to help tighten and heal, so gum butea came to mean the resin used as 'an astringent'.