surfactant

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sərˈfæktənt/

Etymology

surface-active agent

Noun

surfactant (plural surfactants)

1. (chemistry) A surface active agent, or wetting agent, capable of reducing the surface tension of a liquid; typically organic compounds having a hydrophilic "head" and a hydrophobic "tail".
2. (biochemistry) A lipoprotein in the tissues of the lung that reduces surface tension and permits more efficient gas transport.

Translations

surface active agent

Finnish: tensidi (fi), pinta-aktiivinen (fi) aine (fi), surfaktantti (fi) Italian: tensioattivo (it) m. Japanese: 界面活性剤 (ja) (かいめんかっせいざい, kaimen-kasseizai)

Slovene: omočilo (sl) Turkish: sürfektan (tr)

lipoprotein that facilitates gas transport in the lungs

Finnish: surfaktantti (fi) Japanese: 肺表面活性物質 (ja) (はいひょうめんかっせいぶっしつ, hai-hyōmen-kassei-busshitsu)

Turkish: sürfektan (tr)