noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of various steroid glycosides found in plant tissues that dissolve in water to give a soapy froth.

   "“Saponins aren't absorbed by the intestines. You've got to get the stuff into the blood.”"

2. 2
   any of various plant glucosides that form soapy lathers when mixed and agitated with water; used in detergents and foaming agents and emulsifiers wordnet

Example

More examples

"“Saponins aren't absorbed by the intestines. You've got to get the stuff into the blood.”"

Etymology

From sapon- + -in.

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