talcum powder

American

[tal-kuhm] / ˈtæl kəm /

noun

a powder made of purified, usually perfumed talc, for toilet purposes.

talcum powder British

/ ˈtælkəm /

noun

Often shortened to: talc. a powder made of purified talc, usually scented, used for perfuming the body and for absorbing excess moisture

"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

Etymology

Origin of talcum powder

1885–90; < Medieval Latin talcum talc

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A welcome exception came last Thursday when federal magistrate judge Rukhsanah Singh disqualified Beasley Allen from representing plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation against Johnson & Johnson claiming injuries from talcum powder.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

To visualize microscopic asbestos fibers in talcum powder, he brought a bale of hay into a courtroom and dropped a needle into the blades.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

Footage of the event showed several people trying to restrain the pair as they sprayed the stones with a mix of cornflour, talcum powder and orange dye.

From Barron's • Oct. 31, 2025

The claims of links between talcum powder and cancer revolve around asbestos - a known cause of cancer.

From BBC • Oct. 15, 2025

And these shelves were loaded with little articles, soap and talcum powder, razors and those Western magazines ranch men love to read and scoff at and secretly believe.

From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023