chicle

[ chik-uhl ]

/ ˈtʃɪk əl /

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noun

a gumlike substance obtained from the latex of certain tropical American trees, as the sapodilla, used chiefly in the manufacture of chewing gum.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Also called chicle gum .

Origin of chicle

1860–65, Americanism;<Mexican Spanish <Nahuatl tzictli

Words nearby chicle

chick lit, chickpea, chickweed, chickweed wintergreen, Chiclayo, chicle, Chiclets, chico, Chicom, Chicopee, chicory

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use chicle in a sentence

In 1885 the United States imported 929,959 pounds of chicle.
The Wonder Book of Knowledge|Various
Within thirty days he must remove his wagons, his tractors, his chicle kettles, everything that belongs to him.
The Red Lure|Roy J. Snell
Someone had told him that Daego had made a quarter of a million dollars the previous year on chicle.
The Red Lure|Roy J. Snell
Burl had been with him once before, when they had trekked through the chicle forests of Guatemala in search of a lost Mayan city.
The Secret of the Ninth Planet|Donald Allen Wollheim

El chicle se saca del zapote y del chicozapote, rboles de Mjico y Amrica Central.
Heath's Modern Language Series: The Spanish American Reader|Ernesto Nelson

British Dictionary definitions for chicle

chicle

/ (ˈtʃɪkəl) /

noun

a gumlike substance obtained from the sapodilla; the main ingredient of chewing gumAlso called: chicle gum

Word Origin for chicle

from Spanish, from Nahuatl chictli

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012