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styptic (STIP-tik) - adj., (med.) contracting the tissues or blood vessels; checking bleeding by contracting tissues or blood vessels. n., a styptic agent or substance.
The general sense is almost entirely restricted to medicine, but from the start the specific sense was common. Most often seen in the form of a styptic pen(cil), a solid astringent that, when rubbed on a small abrasion (such as a shaving cut -- before safety razors, they were standard part of a shaving kit), slows the bleed.
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In use since the 14th century as Middle English stiptik, from Old French stiptique, from Latin stȳpticus, from Greek stūptikos, from stūphein, to contract -- so astringent is the root sense.
---L.
The general sense is almost entirely restricted to medicine, but from the start the specific sense was common. Most often seen in the form of a styptic pen(cil), a solid astringent that, when rubbed on a small abrasion (such as a shaving cut -- before safety razors, they were standard part of a shaving kit), slows the bleed.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
In use since the 14th century as Middle English stiptik, from Old French stiptique, from Latin stȳpticus, from Greek stūptikos, from stūphein, to contract -- so astringent is the root sense.
---L.
