Standard Lemma guide

methylcellulose

noun · 1 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.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A white powdery substance, obtained by the methylation of cellulose, that swells in contact with water to form a gel; it has many industrial applications.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *médhu Proto-Hellenic *méthu Ancient Greek μέθυ (méthu) Proto-Indo-European *swel-der.? Ancient Greek ῡ̔́λη (hū́lē)der. German -yl German Methylbor. English methyl English methyl- Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-der. Latin cella Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -ula Latin cellulabor. French cellule French -ose French cellulosebor. English cellulose English methylcellulose From methyl- + cellulose.

Across languages

Translations

4 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Finnish: metyyliselluloosa — powdery substance
  • Italian: metilcellulosa — powdery substance
  • Romanian: metilceluloză — powdery substance
  • Spanish: melcelulosa — powdery substance