Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “hydrophilic” come from?

Hydrophilic comes from English -philic and English -ic, combined with Ancient Greek ὕδωρ meaning water, and suffixed with Latin -icus and Proto-Indo-European -kos.

hydrophilic (English): Having an affinity for water; able to absorb, or...

Definitions

  1. Having an affinity for water; able to absorb, or...

Ancestry of “hydrophilic”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-philicSynonym of -philous
2English-icUsed to form adjectives from nouns with the...
3EnglishimageAn optical or other representation of a real...
4Frenchimagepicture, image; frame; first-person singular...
5Portugueseimagemimage; picture; figure; image; image; face
6Spanishimagenimage
7Italianimmagineimage; imago
8Latinimāginem—
9Latinim-Alternative form of in-; form of "in"; in
10Latinīn-—
11Latinîn—
12Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
13Proto-Italicenin
14Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “hydrophilic”

  • hydrophilicity
  • superhydrophilic
  • superhydrophilicity
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →