tincture

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(tĭngk'chər) pronunciation
n.
  1. A coloring or dyeing substance; a pigment.
  2. An imparted color; a tint.
  3. A quality that colors, pervades, or distinguishes.
  4. A trace or vestige: "a faint tincture of condescension" (Robert Craft).
  5. An alcohol solution of a nonvolatile medicine: tincture of iodine.
  6. Heraldry. A metal, color, or fur.
tr.v., -tured, -tur·ing, -tures.
  1. To stain or tint with a color.
  2. To infuse, as with a quality; impregnate.

[Middle English, from Latin tīnctūra, a dyeing, from tīnctus, past participle of tingere, to dye.]


A solution with alcohol as the solvent (e.g. tincture of iodine).



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noun

    Something that imparts color: color, colorant, coloring, dye, dyestuff, pigment, stain. See colors/colorless.

verb

    To impart color to: color, dye, stain, tint. See colors/colorless.


A medicinal preparation consisting of an extract of a drug derived from a plant in a solution of alcohol. Many plants contain active ingredients that are used as drugs and are extracted in this way.

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noun
noun

An alcoholic drink, a snifter. (1914 —) .
Ingrams & Wells Rough diamond, especially after a tincture or two (1980).



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A dilution or extraction in alcohol.

An alcoholic or hydroalcoholic solution prepared from an animal or vegetable drug or a chemical substance.

  • benzoin t., compound — a mixture of benzoin, aloes, storax and tolu balsam in alcohol; used as a topical protectant.
  • iodine t. — a mixture of iodine and sodium iodide in a menstruum of alcohol and water; used as an anti-infective for the skin.
(tink′chur)
n

An alcoholic, hydroalcoholic, or ethereal solution of a drug.

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categories related to 'tincture'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to tincture, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Tincture.
A tincture prepared from white willow bark and ethanol

A tincture is typically an alcoholic extract of plant or animal material or solution of such or of a lowvolatility substance such as iodine and mercurochrome). To qualify as an alcoholic tincture, the extract should have an ethanol percentage of at least 40-60% or 80-120 proof. Sometimes even a 90% or 180 proof tincture is achieved.[1] In herbal medicine, alcoholic tinctures are made with various concentrations of ethanol, 25% being the most common. Other concentrations include 45% and 90%.

Herbal tinctures are not always made using ethanol as the solvent, though this is most commonly the case. Other solvents include vinegar, glycerol, ether and propylene glycol, not all of which can be used for internal consumption. However, when a solvent's pH is a major consideration, ethanol has the advantage of being very close to neutral, so is an excellent choice as a passive, or chemically nonreactive, solvent for both acidic and basic (alkaline) constituents.
Glycerine can also be used passively, but is generally a poorer solvent. Vinegar, being acidic, is a better solvent for obtaining alkaloids but a poorer solvent for acidic components, so results in increased extraction of any alkaloids which might be present in the starting material. For individuals who chose not to imbibe alcohol, non-alcoholic e,g., (glycerite) extracts offer an alternative for preparations meant to be taken internally.

Alcohol cannot be subjected to high temperatures, so its use is considered a 'non-critical' passive methodology. Glycerol, utilized in a non-critical fashion as it was in early Eclectic medicine studies, is typically seen as inferior to alcohol, whereas if glycerol is subjected to an innovative serialized methodology now catching on in the industry, the tincturing potential of glycerol is quite astounding. Therefore, newer glycerite products are showing great promise and even rivaling alcoholic tinctures in many ways.

Some solutions of volatile or nonvolatile substances are traditionally called spirits, regardless of whether obtained by distillation or not and whether or not they even contain alcohol. In chemistry, a tincture is a solution that has alcohol as its solvent.

Contents

General method of preparation

  • Herbs are put in a container and a spirit of 40% or more ethanol is added, 80 proof Vodka or 190 proof Everclear, for example.
  • The jar is left to stand for 2–3 weeks and shaken occasionally in order to maximize extraction.

More accurate measuring can be done by combining 1 part herbs with a water-ethanol mixture of 2-10 parts, depending on the herb itself. For most tinctures, however, 1 part water to 5 parts ethanol is typical.[1]

Examples of tinctures

Some examples that were formerly common in medicine[2] include:

Examples of spirits include:

Advantages of tinctures

Ethanol is able to dissolve substances which are less soluble in water, while at the same time the water content can dissolve the substances less soluble in ethanol. One can sometimes vary the proportion of ethanol and water to produce tinctures with different characteristics due to the distinct solvent properties of these two. Tincture of calendula is commonly tinctured at either 25% or 90% ethanol. The alcohol content also acts as a preservative.

Disadvantages of tinctures

Ethanol has a tendency to denature some organic compounds, rendering them so changed as to be ineffective. This is one reason why ethanol is an Antimicrobialantimicrobial. This tendency can also have undesirable effects when extracting botanical constituents, for instance, polysaccharides. Certain other constituents, common among them proteins, can become irreversibly "cooked" or "pickled" in a manner of speaking. A basic tenet of organic chemistry teaches that anytime a biologically viable component is denatured, it will reduce or negate its prior biological viability. This fact must be considered by the clinician and/or consumer from both the standpoint of efficacy and dosage when choosing ethanol-based botanical tinctures.

Although ether and propylene glycol based tinctures are not suitable for internal consumption, they are used in preparations such as personal care cremes and ointments.

See also

  • Nalewka - a traditional Polish category of alcoholic tincture.
  • Infusion - a water or oil based extract with similar historical uses to a tincture.
  • Elixir - A pharmaceutical preparation containing an active ingredient that is dissolved in a solution containing some percentage of ethyl alcohol.
  • Extract
  • Topical - categorization of topical skin preparation options

References

  1. ^ a b Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst
  2. ^ The Pharmacopoeia of the United States, 1850 ed.

Translations:

Tincture

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - farvenuance, skær, anstrøg
v. tr. - farve, give et anstrøg af farve

Nederlands (Dutch)
tinctuur, kleurstof, tinten

Français (French)
n. - (Pharm) teinture, trace, (Hérald) émail
v. tr. - teinter

Deutsch (German)
n. - Tinktur, alkoholischer Auszug, Beigeschmack, Färbung
v. - leicht färben, einen Anstrich geben

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ιατρ.) βάμμα (ιωδίου), απόχρωση, χροιά
v. - χρωματίζω, δίνω χροιά

Italiano (Italian)
tintura, tingere

Português (Portuguese)
n. - tintura (f), traços (m pl), matiz (m), cor (f)
v. - colorir, impregnar, tingir

Русский (Russian)
тинктура, раствор, настойка, привкус, оттенок, налет, придавать оттенок, окрашивать

Español (Spanish)
n. - tintura, color, tinte
v. tr. - teñir, matizar, colorar, tinturar

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tinktur
v. - färga, prägla

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
酊, 气息, 迹象, 特征, 颜色, 色彩, 染, 使充满, 使有气息

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 酊, 氣息, 跡象, 特徵, 顏色, 色彩
v. tr. - 染, 使充滿, 使有氣息

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 허울, 기미, 채색
v. tr. - 색을 입히다, 염색하다, ~의 맛을 내다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - チンキ, 気味, …気味なところ
v. - 気味を帯びさせる

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) لون, صبغ (فعل) يشبع, يصبغ‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮צבע, גוון, משרה, תמיסת-כוהל, שמץ, קורטוב, משקה חריף (מדוברת)‬
v. tr. - ‮גיוון, תיבל‬


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