Glutinous means sticky, gluey, or thick like paste. The word comes from gluten, a sticky protein found in wheat that makes dough stretchy and elastic. When you knead bread dough and it becomes smooth and stretchy, that's gluten at work.

You'll often see this word describing rice. Glutinous rice, also called sticky rice, is a special variety popular in Asian cooking that becomes wonderfully sticky when cooked, making it easy to eat with chopsticks or shape into balls.

The word can describe anything with that thick, gummy quality: a glutinous sauce that clings to noodles, glutinous mud that sucks at your boots, or even glutinous oatmeal that's been cooked too long. It's not usually a compliment. While sticky rice is meant to be glutinous, most foods taste better with a lighter texture.

Don't confuse glutinous with gluttonous (pronounced differently), which describes someone who eats too much. A glutton overeats, while something glutinous is just sticky.