Saliva
//səˈlaɪvə// name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A clear, slightly alkaline liquid secreted into the mouth by the salivary glands and mucous glands, consisting of water, mucin, protein, and enzymes. It moistens the mouth, lubricates ingested food, and begins the breakdown of starches. countable, uncountable
- 2 a clear liquid secreted into the mouth by the salivary glands and mucous glands of the mouth; moistens the mouth and starts the digestion of starches wordnet
Verb
- 1 to salivate nonstandard
Proper Noun
- 1 Alternative form of Saliba (“language”). alt-of, alternative
Example
More examples"My mouth forms a lot of saliva."
Etymology
A learned borrowing from Latin salīva (“spittle”), replacing or merging with Middle English salive, salve (“saliva”), from the same Latin source. Further origin uncertain. Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *salw-, *sal- (“dirt, dirty”), cognate with Old English salu (“dark, dusky”). More at sallow. Displaced Middle English slaver, slavere ("saliva"; whence Modern English slaver); and Middle English spyttle, spetel, spatel, spotel ("saliva"; whence Modern English spittle, spettle, spattle).
Related phrases
More for "saliva"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.