caoutchouc

English

Alternative forms

• cahootchie

Etymology

Borrowed from French caoutchouc, from Spanish caucho, from Quechua kawchu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊt͡ʃʊk/, /ˈkaʊt͡ʃuk/

Noun

caoutchouc (countable and uncountable, plural caoutchoucs)

1. latex; natural rubber
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 299:

     Many a passer-by thought Miss Arundel was listening to some subject of most touching interest: his Lordship was only detailing the benefit he derived one wet day from his caoutchouc cloak.

   • 1855, William Somerville Orr, Orr's Circle of the Sciences, page 205:

     Resin, pitch, sealing-wax, caoutchouc, sulphur, gutta-percha, and generally all bodies commonly termed resinous, besides a great variety of others, will be found to acquire, after friction, the power of attracting light bodies, and hence will be said, according to a limitation of terms already accepted, to be in an electrized or electrified state .

Derived terms

• caoutchin
• mineral caoutchouc

Translations

natural rubber

• Albanian: kauçuk (sq) m
• Arabic: مَطَّاط m (maṭṭāṭ), كَاوْتْشُوك m (kāwtšūk)
• Azerbaijani: kauçuk
• Belarusian: каўчу́к m (kaŭčúk)
• Catalan: cautxú (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 樹膠／树胶 (zh) (shùjiāo), 生橡膠／生橡胶 (shēngxiàngjiāo)

• Czech: kaučuk m
• Esperanto: kaŭĉuko
• Finnish: kautsu (fi)
• French: caoutchouc (fr) m
• German: Kautschuk (de) m
• Hungarian: kaucsuk (hu)
• Ido: kauchuko (io)
• Italian: caucciù (it) m
• Japanese: 生ゴム (nama-gomu)
• Kazakh: каучук (kauçuk), көксағыз (köksağyz)
• Khmer: កៅស៊ូ (km) (kavsuu)
• Korean: 천연 고무 (cheonyeon gomu)
• Persian: کائوچو (fa) (kâ'uču)
• Polish: kauczuk (pl) m
• Portuguese: borracha (pt) f, cautchu m
• Romanian: cauciuc (ro) n
• Russian: каучу́к (ru) m (kaučúk)
• Slovene: kavčuk m
• Tagalog: kawtso
• Turkish: kauçuk (tr)
• Turkmen: kauçuk
• Ukrainian: каучу́к m (kaučúk)
• Uzbek: kauchuk (uz)
• Vietnamese: cao su (vi)

References

• “caoutchouc”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish cauchuc (an early variant of caucho), from Quechua kawchu. The final -c was formerly variably pronounced or silent, but is now always silent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ut.ʃu/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

caoutchouc m (plural caoutchoucs)

1. rubber (natural and synthetic)

   Synonym: gomme

2. (Louisiana, Cajun) plastic

   Synonym: plastique

Derived terms

• caoutchouter
• caoutchouteux
• caoutchoutier
• caoutchoutique

Descendants

• → Bulgarian: ка́учук (káučuk)
• → Czech: kaučuk
• → German: Kautschuk
• → Esperanto: kaŭĉuko
• → Italian: caucciù
• → Romanian: cauciuc
• → Russian: каучу́к (kaučúk)
• → Turkish: kauçuk
• → Vietnamese: cao su

Further reading

• “caoutchouc”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.