Standard Lemma guide

cornstarch

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.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K AO1 R N S T AA2 R CH Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A very fine starch powder derived from corn (maize) used in cooking as a thickener, to keep things from sticking, or as an anti-caking agent.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cornflour, maizestarch

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

starch prepared from the grains of corn; used in cooking as a thickener

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cornflour

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: starch, amylum

History

Etymology

From corn + starch.

Across languages

Translations

31 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: نَشَاء ذُرَة (našāʔ ḏura) — very fine starch powder
  • Chechen: ахьар (aḥrar) — very fine starch powder
  • Chinese Cantonese: 粟粉 (suk1 fan2) — very fine starch powder
  • Chinese Cantonese: 鷹粟粉 /鹰粟粉 (jing1 suk1 fan2) — very fine starch powder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 玉米澱粉 /玉米淀粉 (yùmǐ diànfěn) — very fine starch powder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 玉米粉 (yùmifěn) — very fine starch powder
  • Chinese Mandarin: 太白粉 (tàibáifěn) — very fine starch powder
  • Danish: majsstivelse — very fine starch powder
  • Esperanto: maizamelo — very fine starch powder
  • Estonian: maisitärklis — very fine starch powder
  • Finnish: maissitärkkelys — very fine starch powder
  • French: maïzena — very fine starch powder
  • Galician: maicena — very fine starch powder
  • German: Maisstärke — very fine starch powder
  • Greek: νισεστές (nisestés) — very fine starch powder
  • Greek: μαϊζένα (maïzéna) — very fine starch powder
  • Hungarian: kukoricakeményítő — very fine starch powder
  • Japanese: コーンスターチ (kōnsutāchi) — very fine starch powder
  • Korean: 옥수수 전분 (oksusu jeonbun) — very fine starch powder
  • Polish: maizena — very fine starch powder
  • Polish: skrobia kukurydziana — very fine starch powder
  • Portuguese: amido de milho — very fine starch powder
  • Portuguese: maisena — very fine starch powder
  • Slovak: kukuričný škrob — very fine starch powder
  • Spanish: maicena — very fine starch powder
  • Spanish: harina de maíz — very fine starch powder
  • Spanish: fécula — very fine starch powder
  • Spanish: almidón — very fine starch powder
  • Spanish: maizena — very fine starch powder
  • Thai: แป้งข้าวโพด — very fine starch powder
  • Turkish: mısır nişastası — very fine starch powder