Standard Lemma guide

cellulite

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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɛl.jʊ.laɪt/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌ-liːt/
  • General-American: /ˈsɛl.jə.laɪt/
  • General-American: /ˌ-lit/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛljʊlaɪt
  • rhymes with -ɛljʊliːt

1

noun

Meaning 1

Skin dimpling caused by the herniation (protrusion) of subcutaneous adipose tissue (fat within connective tissue), especially on the pelvic area of women.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, informal, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: adiposis edematosa, dermopanniculosis deformans, status protrusus cutis, gynoid lipodystrophy, orange peel syndrome

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

lumpy deposits of body fat especially on women's thighs etc.

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: adipose tissue, fat, fatty tissue

History

Etymology

Borrowed from French cellulite. By surface analysis, cellule + -ite. Doublet of cellulitis. First attested in the 1960s.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: selluliet — dimpled skin
  • Catalan: cel·lulitis — dimpled skin
  • Catalan: pell de taronja — dimpled skin
  • Chinese Mandarin: 橘皮組織 /橘皮组织 (júzǔzǔzhī) — dimpled skin
  • Danish: appelsinhud — dimpled skin
  • Dutch: sinaasappelhuid — dimpled skin
  • Finnish: selluliitti — dimpled skin
  • French: cellulite — dimpled skin
  • Greek: κυτταρίτιδα (kyttarítida) — dimpled skin
  • Hungarian: narancsbőr — dimpled skin
  • Hungarian: cellulit — dimpled skin
  • Icelandic: appelsínuhúð — dimpled skin
  • Indonesian: selulit — dimpled skin
  • Italian: cellulite — dimpled skin
  • Japanese: セルライト (seruraito) — dimpled skin
  • Polish: cellulit — dimpled skin
  • Polish: cellulitis — dimpled skin
  • Polish: skórka pomarańczowa — dimpled skin
  • Portuguese: celulite — dimpled skin
  • Romanian: celulită — dimpled skin
  • Russian: целлюли́т (celljulít) — dimpled skin
  • Spanish: celulitis — dimpled skin
  • Spanish: grasa celulítica — dimpled skin