excipient

American  

[ik-sip-ee-uhnt] / ɪkˈsɪp i ənt /

noun

Pharmacology.

1. a pharmacologically inert, adhesive substance, as honey, syrup, or gum arabic, used to bind the contents of a pill or tablet.

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excipient British  

/ ɪkˈsɪpɪənt /

noun

1. a substance, such as sugar or gum, used to prepare a drug or drugs in a form suitable for administration

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Etymology

Origin of excipient

1720–30; < Latin excipient- (stem of excipiēns ), present participle of excipere to take out, except, take up, equivalent to ex- ex- ¹ + -cipi- (stem of combining form of capere to take) + -ent- -ent

Example Sentences

The study, "Culinary strategies for improving carotenoid bioaccessibility in kale: The role of thermal processing and excipient emulsions," was published in Food Nutrition.

From Science Daily • Dec. 8, 2025

"For an excipient in manipulating a pill mass which do you prefer—the magnesia carbonate or the pulverised glycerrhiza radix?"

From Strictly business: more stories of the four million by Henry, O.

This preparation is, in our opinion, undesirable on account of its liability to become rancid and vaseline should be the excipient used.

From The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Thomas, Jerome Beers

When the Temperance Hospital was first opened, it became a question of practical importance, what should be done with regard to the alcohol so largely employed as a vehicle and drug excipient.

From Alcohol: A Dangerous and Unnecessary Medicine, How and Why What Medical Writers Say by Allen, Martha Meir