Gutta-percha

//ɡʌɾəˈpɝtʃə// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An inelastic natural latex, produced from the sap of several tropical trees of the genera Palaquium and Payena. countable, uncountable

    "Resin, pitch, sealing-wax, caoutchouc, sulphur, gutta-percha, and generally all bodies commonly termed resinous, besides a great variety of others, will be found to acquire, after friction, the power of attracting light bodies, and hence will be said, according to a limitation of terms already accepted, to be in an electrized or electrified state ."

  2. 2
    a whitish rubber derived from the coagulated milky latex of gutta-percha trees; used for insulation of electrical cables wordnet

Example

More examples

"Resin, pitch, sealing-wax, caoutchouc, sulphur, gutta-percha, and generally all bodies commonly termed resinous, besides a great variety of others, will be found to acquire, after friction, the power of attracting light bodies, and hence will be said, according to a limitation of terms already accepted, to be in an electrized or electrified state ."

Etymology

Borrowed from Malay getah perca.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.