Is it esculent?

esculent: edible, fit to be eaten

According to dictionary,com, it originates in the 1620s, from L. esculentus, from esca “food,” from PIE *ed- “to eat” (see eat). (Link and usage examples here)

I saw it a while back and hadn’t gotten around to following up on the idea that it would make a great first post from me on Words & Stuff. In ironic timing, I’ve just encountered a box of non-free airline food (helpful tip: don’t buy the tapas box on United flights, it’s not worth it) that I considered only barely “esculent” by dint of my impending hangryness. (For which see next item!)

8 Responses to “Is it esculent?”

  1. Ian D Osmond

    I only recently encountered this word for the first time, in the song “The Medicines” by The Taxpayers, which I know as the theme song for the medical history podcast “Sawbones”. It has a line describing medicines as “the esculent macabre for the mouth”.

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  2. CuteBean

    I’m here for the exact same reason. I heard that song on sawbones and I just have to know what esculent macabre means.

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  3. Drew Cifer

    me too. Sawbones.
    Edible Death?

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  4. Jed

    Interesting—thanks, all! I hadn’t encountered that song.

    A commenter on Genius suggests that the line means that “These drugs are consumable to a point, but when taken too far they can result in death.” Sounds plausible to me.

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  5. Beth

    Same! Sawbones. We are learning about misguided medicine, and expanding our vocabularies at the same time.

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  6. mol

    sawbones too !!!

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  7. Gman

    Sawbones podcast. I had to look up the lyrics then the word esculent.

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