viscid

English

Etymology

From Late Latin viscidus, from viscum (“birdlime”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪsɪd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

viscid (comparative more viscid, superlative most viscid)

2. Having a high viscosity.

   Synonym: viscous

   Antonym: inviscid

4. Sticky, slimy, or glutinous.

   Synonym: mucilaginous

   Antonym: inviscid

   • 1906, O. Henry, The Furnished Room:

     They trod noiselessly upon a stair carpet that its own loom would have forsworn. It seemed to have become vegetable; to have degenerated in that rank, sunless air to lush lichen or spreading moss that grew in patches to the staircase and was viscid under the foot like organic matter.

   • 1959, Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan‎^[1], New York: Dial, published 2006, Epilogue, pp. 315-316:

     The pool’s bottoms and sides were lined with a blanket of viscid slime, and the three statues in the middle, the three Sirens of Titan, were under a mucilaginous hump.

6. Covered with a viscid layer.

   Antonym: inviscid

Usage notes

In everyday usage, much less common than viscous, with which it is roughly interchangeable. In careful usage, viscous is more often used for fluid flow, like honey, while viscid is used for a squishy, slimy feel of more solid substances, like mayonnaise.

Derived terms

• viscidity
• viscidly
• viscidness

Translations

sticky, slimy, or glutinous

• Latin: viscidus
• Maori: piapia
• Russian: ли́пкий (ru) m (lípkij), кле́йкий (ru) m (kléjkij)

References

• Google define
• Merriam-Webster