YEAST
What does "YEAST" mean?
A single-celled fungus used to leaven bread and ferment alcohol.
Meanings
- A microscopic fungus that ferments sugars, producing carbon dioxide and alcohol, used in baking and brewing. The dough wouldn't rise because the yeast was dead.
- A frothy preparation of these organisms used as a leavening or fermenting agent. He added a packet of yeast to the warm water.
Did you know?
- Baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was the first eukaryotic organism to have its full genome sequenced, completed in 1996 - the microbe that raises your bread also mapped a path for genetics.
- 'Yeast' literally means 'the foaming thing' - it shares an ancient root with the Greek word for 'to boil', named for the bubbling it stirs up.
Word origin
From Old English 'gist' or 'gyst', from a Proto-Germanic root meaning to foam or boil up; related to Greek 'zein' (to boil), reflecting the foaming action of fermentation.
Remember it
YEAST = You Eat A Slightly Tipsy fungus: each cell eats sugar and breathes out the gas that makes bread rise.
A little poem
Flour, water, sleep-
by morning the bowl has breathed
and doubled in dark.
haiku
Wordplay
- I told my dough a joke. It didn't laugh, but it did rise to the occasion - that's just the yeast it could do.
What it teaches
Growth is invisible while it works; trust the quiet hours when nothing seems to rise.
Quick facts
What does YEAST mean?
A single-celled fungus used to leaven bread and ferment alcohol.
Is YEAST a valid word?
Yes — YEAST is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is YEAST?
YEAST has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does YEAST come from?
From Old English 'gist' or 'gyst', from a Proto-Germanic root meaning to foam or boil up; related to Greek 'zein' (to boil), reflecting the foaming action of fermentation.
What can YEAST teach us?
Growth is invisible while it works; trust the quiet hours when nothing seems to rise.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.