Sebum

//ˈsibm̩// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A thick oily substance, secreted by the sebaceous glands of the skin, that consists of fat, keratin and cellular debris. countable, uncountable

    "‘I mean, it is not simply adolescent acne caused by the over-excretion of sebum.’"

  2. 2
    the oily secretion of the sebaceous glands; with perspiration it moistens and protects the skin wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
esterfatgreaselipidmineral oiltallow

Example

More examples

"Our skin is coated with sebum, a natural moisturizing oil."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sēbum (“tallow, grease; suet”).

Related phrases

sebaceous gland

More for "sebum"

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