rennet

Meaning

An enzyme used as the first step in making cheese, to curdle the milk and coagulate the casein in it, derived by soaking the fourth stomach of a milk-fed calf in brine.

Synonyms

curd

junket

lab

curdled mild

Translations

caglio

présure

cuajo

Lab

المنفحة

coalho

πυτιά

presame

quall

stremsel

Chymosin

Rennin

Kälbermagen

leb

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɹɛnɪt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: renet

Cognate with Middle Dutch: rinsel

Cognate with Middle English: irennen

Cognate with Old English: ġerennan

Cognate with German: gerinnen

In summary

From Middle English rennet, from Old English *rynnet, *ġerynnet, from Proto-West Germanic *garunniþu (“coagulation, curdling, rennet”), cognate with Old Saxon girunnida (“a running together, coagulation”), Old High German girunnida (“rennet, coagulation”), Middle High German gerinnede (“that which is curdled”).
Compare also Middle English renelesse, renels, renlys, rendlys (“rennet”), Middle Dutch rinsel, runsel (“rennet”), Middle English irennen (“to curdle; to run”), Old English ġerennan (“to coagulate”), Old High German girunst (“rennet”), German gerinnen (“to coagulate; congeal”).