Relating to or containing gamboge, a bright yellow resin used as a pigment and laxative medicine.
From 'gamboge' (the resin) + '-ic' (suffix meaning relating to or containing). Gamboge itself comes from Cambodia, the Southeast Asian country where the tree producing this resin originates, with the name Anglicized from French 'gomme-gutte.'
Gamboge is one of those magical substances medieval alchemists and apothecaries prized—it could paint beautiful yellows AND purge your digestive system! The resin comes from trees in Cambodia and was so valuable in trade that Europeans literally named it after the country, which shows how geography shaped commerce and vocabulary.
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