a pharmacologically inert, adhesive substance, as honey, syrup, or gum arabic, used to bind the contents of a pill or tablet.
Origin: 1720–30; < Latinexcipient- (stem of excipiēns), present participle of excipere to take out, except, take up, equivalent to ex-ex-1 + -cipi- (stem of combining form of capere to take) + -ent--ent