mouthfeel

English

Alternative forms

• mouth feel

Etymology

From mouth +‎ feel.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

mouthfeel (countable and uncountable, plural mouthfeels)

1. A feeling (other than taste) perceived inside the mouth.

   Coordinate terms: handfeel, skinfeel

   1. The texture of food, drink, etc. as perceived by the mouth.

      Dark ale tends to have a creamy mouthfeel.

      • 1962, Samuel A. Matz, Food Texture‎^[1], Westport, CT: The AVI publishing company, page 41:

        Liquid foods which are essentially Newtonian fluids may be considered to have their texture or “mouthfeel” adequately described by their viscosity.

      • 2000 January 28, Oliver Burkeman, quoting Heston Blumenthal, “Things that make you go yum”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

        “Unctuous is probably quite a good description, but there's a sweetness, too, and a mouthfeel,” ventures Heston Blumenthal, chef at the Fat Duck at Bray.

      • [2007 February 23, “In praise of … hummus”, in The Guardian‎^[3], →ISSN:

        The disappearance of hummus from the shelves after a hygiene problem at a plant supplying supermarkets has revealed the depth of popular addiction to this appealing paste. Its taste, at once earthy and refreshing, now has a large place in the British palate. Its grainy texture offers what food chemists call “mouthfeel” at its best.]

      • 2018 August 24, Katherine Cross, “The Oscar Wilde of YouTube fights the alt-right with decadence and seduction”, in The Verge‎^[4]:

        “So to start with,” Adria says, “it doesn’t get as hard, it doesn’t really ejaculate, and it has a different mouthfeel. Can we please talk about the mouthfeel? Why is no one talking about the mouthfeel?” she repeats, looking straight into the camera through her clear-framed glasses as the camera zooms in.

      • 2023 April 22, Yvonne C. Lam, “Supermarket Anzac biscuit taste test: from ‘beautiful’ to ‘an intense workout’”, in The Guardian‎^[5], →ISSN:

        Our five tasters […] conducted a blind test of the biscuits. They were asked to assess them on their appearance (an even golden-brown); aroma (biscuity); mouthfeel (either pleasantly chewy or with a satisfying crunch); and flavour (balanced, perfumed with golden syrup and earthy with oats).

   2. The sensations of the tongue when it moves around in the mouth.

      I have a much better mouthfeel since my broken tooth has been repaired.

Translations

texture perceived by mouth

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 口感 (zh) (kǒugǎn)

• Dutch: mondgevoel (nl)
• Finnish: suutuntuma
• German: Mundgefühl
• Hebrew: תחושה בפה f
• Hungarian: kortyérzet (literally “sip feeling”) (beverages only)
• Japanese: 食感 (ja)
• Spanish: textura en boca f
• Swedish: munkänsla
• Yiddish: רושם אין מויל m (royshem in moyl)