Standard Lemma guide

asafoetida

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌæsəˈfɛtɪdə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A resinous gum from the stem and roots of Ferula species such as Ferula foetida and Ferula assa-foetida, having a strong, unpleasant smell, with culinary and medical uses.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: asant, hing, devil's dung, stinking gum

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the brownish gum resin of various plants; has strong taste and odor; formerly used as an antispasmodic

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: asafetida

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: natural resin

History

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Medieval Latin asafoetida, from Persian ازا / آزا (azâ, âzâ, “mastic”) + Latin foetida, feminine of foetidus (“bad-smelling”).

Across languages

Translations

63 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: duiwelsdrek — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Arabic: حِلْتِيت (ḥiltīt) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Armenian: քաղբան (kʻaġban) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Armenian: անգուժատ (angužat) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Middle Armenian: անգուժատ (angužat) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Middle Armenian: մաղթ (maġtʻ) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Balinese: hinggu — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Burmese: ရှိန်းခို (hrin:hkui) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Dutch: duivelsdrek — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Finnish: hajupihka — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Finnish: pirunpihka — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • French: ase fétide — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • German: Asant — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • German: Teufelsdreck — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Gujarati: હિંગ (hiṅg) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Hindi: हींग (hīṅg) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Hindi: हीँग (hī̃g) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Hindi: हिंग (hiṅg) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Hungarian: bűzös husáng — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Hungarian: bűzös aszat — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Icelandic: djöflatað — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Italian: assafetida — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Jingpho: hkying hku — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Kannada: ಇಂಗು (iṅgu) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Kazakh: кеурексасыр (keureksasyr) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Lao: ມະຫາຫິງ (ma hā hing) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Low German: düwelsdreck — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Malayalam: കായം (kāyaṁ) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Marathi: हिंग (hiṅga) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Mon: ၚု (ŋùˀ) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Nepali: हिङ (hiṅ) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Norwegian Bokmål: dyvelsdrek — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Pashto: انجه (anja) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Persian: انگدان (angodân) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Persian: انگژد (angožad) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Persian: رافه (râfe) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Persian: هنگ (hing) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Polish: asafetyda — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Polish: czarcie łajno — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Polish: smrodzieniec — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Portuguese: assafétida — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Romagnol: asafëtida — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Sanskrit: हिङ्गु (hiṅgu) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Shan: သိင်းၶူဝ်ႇ (síng khò) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Spanish: asafétida — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Swedish: dyvelsträck — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Tagalog: inggo — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Tagalog: asapetida — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Tajik: ров (rov) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Tamil: பெருங்காயம் (peruṅkāyam) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Telugu: ఇంగువ (iṅguva) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Thai: มหาหิงคุ์ — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Tibetan: ཤིང་ཀུན — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Tocharian B: aṅkwaṣ — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Turkish: şeytantersi — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Turkish: hiltit — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Ottoman Turkish: حلتیت (hiltit) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Ottoman Turkish: شیطان بوقی (şeytan boku) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Urdu: ہینگ (hīṅg) — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Welsh: asaffeta — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Welsh: baw diawl — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Welsh: drewgi — resinous gum from wild fennel
  • Yiddish: טײַוולסקויט (tayvlskoyt) — resinous gum from wild fennel