Standard Lemma guide

colostrum

noun · 3 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: /kəˈlɒstɹəm/
  • General-American, dialectal: /kəˈlɑstɹəm/ of Canada
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, dialectal: /kəˈlɒstɹəm/ of the US
  • Australian: /kəˈlɔstɹəm/
  • New-Zealand: /kəˈlɒstɹəm/
  • New-Zealand: [kəˈlɔ̟stɹəm]

1

noun

Meaning 1

A form of milk produced by the mammary glands in late pregnancy and the few days after giving birth.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: beestings, first milk, fore-milk, green milk

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A mixture of turpentine and egg yolk, formerly used as an emulsion.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

milky fluid secreted for the first day or two after parturition

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: foremilk

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: milk

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin colostrum, of uncertain origin.

Across languages

Translations

112 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: kulloshtër — a form of milk
  • Southern Altai: уус сӱт (uus süt) — a form of milk
  • Southern Altai: уус (uus) — a form of milk
  • Arabic: لَبَأ (labaʔ) — a form of milk
  • Armenian: դալ (dal) — a form of milk
  • Armenian: խիժ (xiž) — a form of milk
  • Armenian: խեժ (xež) — a form of milk
  • Assamese: ফেঁহু (phẽhu) — a form of milk
  • Azerbaijani: ağız — a form of milk
  • Azerbaijani: bulama — a form of milk
  • Bashkir: ыуыҙ (ıwıź) — a form of milk
  • Basque: oritz — a form of milk
  • Belarusian: мало́дзіва (malódziva) — a form of milk
  • Bulgarian: кола́стра (kolástra) — a form of milk
  • Burmese: နို့ရည်ကြည် (nui.ranykrany) — a form of milk
  • Catalan: calostre — a form of milk
  • Chinese Mandarin: 初乳 (chūrǔ) — a form of milk
  • Czech: mlezivo — a form of milk
  • Czech: kolostrum — a form of milk
  • Danish: råmælk — a form of milk
  • Dutch: colostrum — a form of milk
  • Dutch: voormelk — a form of milk
  • Dutch: biest — a form of milk
  • Estonian: ternespiim — a form of milk
  • Faroese: oskamjólk — a form of milk
  • Faroese: rámjólk — a form of milk
  • Finnish: ternimaito — a form of milk
  • French: colostrum — a form of milk
  • West-Frisian: bjist — a form of milk
  • Friulian: caiostre — a form of milk
  • Galician: costro — a form of milk
  • Galician: formigo — a form of milk
  • German: Kolostrum — a form of milk
  • German: Vormilch — a form of milk
  • German: Erstmilch — a form of milk
  • German: Biestmilch — a form of milk
  • German: Biest — a form of milk
  • Greek: πρωτόγαλα (protógala) — a form of milk
  • Ancient Greek: πυριάτη (puriátē) — a form of milk
  • Ancient Greek: πυός (puós) — a form of milk
  • Pontic Greek: ταραχτόν (tarachtón) — a form of milk
  • Hebrew: קולוסטרום — a form of milk
  • Hindi: खीस (khīs) — a form of milk
  • Hindi: नवदुग्ध (navdugdh) — a form of milk
  • Hungarian: előtej — a form of milk
  • Hungarian: kolosztrum — a form of milk
  • Icelandic: broddmjólk — a form of milk
  • Icelandic: broddur — a form of milk
  • Ingrian: kokkomaito — a form of milk
  • Ingrian: pihkamaito — a form of milk
  • Ingrian: juustomaito — a form of milk
  • Irish: gruth buí — a form of milk
  • Italian: colostro — a form of milk
  • Japanese: 初乳 (shonyū) — a form of milk
  • Kazakh: уыз (uyz) — a form of milk
  • Kikuyu: gĩthana — a form of milk
  • Korean: 초유 (choyu) — a form of milk
  • Central Kurdish: ژەک (jek) — a form of milk
  • Northern Kurdish: firo — a form of milk
  • Northern Kurdish: axuz — a form of milk
  • Northern Kurdish: jek — a form of milk
  • Kyrgyz: ууз (uuz) — a form of milk
  • Latin: colostrum — a form of milk
  • Macedonian: сереј (serej) — a form of milk
  • Macedonian: серај (seraj) — a form of milk
  • Malayalam: ചീമ്പാൽ (cīmpāl) — a form of milk
  • Maltese: liba — a form of milk
  • Marathi: चीक (cīk) — a form of milk
  • Mongolian: уураг (uurag) — a form of milk
  • Norwegian Bokmål: råmelk — a form of milk
  • Norwegian Bokmål: råmjølk — a form of milk
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: råmjølk — a form of milk
  • Occitan: colòstrum — a form of milk
  • Church Slavic: млѣзиво (mlězivo) — a form of milk
  • Old East Slavic: молозиво (molozivo) — a form of milk
  • Persian: آغوز (âġuz) — a form of milk
  • Persian: فرشه (forše) — a form of milk
  • Persian: ماک (mâk) — a form of milk
  • Persian: زهک — a form of milk
  • Persian: پله — a form of milk
  • Persian: شیرماک (širmāk) — a form of milk
  • Polish: siara — a form of milk
  • Polish: młodziwo — a form of milk
  • Polish: mleziwo — a form of milk
  • Portuguese: colostro — a form of milk
  • Romanian: coraslă — a form of milk
  • Romanian: colastră — a form of milk
  • Russian: моло́зиво (molózivo) — a form of milk
  • Serbo-Croatian: мле̏зӣво — a form of milk
  • Serbo-Croatian: мље̏зӣво — a form of milk
  • Serbo-Croatian: mlȅzīvo — a form of milk
  • Serbo-Croatian: mljȅzīvo — a form of milk
  • Slovak: mledzivo — a form of milk
  • Slovene: mlezivo — a form of milk
  • Lower Sorbian: sera — a form of milk
  • Lower Sorbian: serawa — a form of milk
  • Spanish: calostro — a form of milk
  • Swedish: råmjölk — a form of milk
  • Tamil: சீம்பால் (cīmpāl) — a form of milk
  • Tarifit: adxes — a form of milk
  • Tatar: угыз (uğız) — a form of milk
  • Telugu: జున్ను (junnu) — a form of milk
  • Turkish: ağız — a form of milk
  • Ottoman Turkish: اغوز (ağız) — a form of milk
  • Ottoman Turkish: شمه (şeme) — a form of milk
  • Turkmen: ovuz — a form of milk
  • Ukrainian: моло́зиво (molózyvo) — a form of milk
  • Uyghur: ئوغۇز (oghuz) — a form of milk
  • Uzbek: ogʻizsut — a form of milk
  • Vietnamese: sữa non — a form of milk
  • Welsh: llaeth tor — a form of milk
  • Welsh: cynlaeth — a form of milk