hydrophile

English

Etymology

hydro- +‎ -phile

Noun

hydrophile (plural hydrophiles)

1. (chemistry) Any hydrophilic substance.
2. (zoology) Any organism that thrives in the presence of water.
   • 1986, James Kenneth Liebherr, Cladistic Analysis of North American Platynini:

     Hydrophiles usually retain flight capability because they must recolonize unstable habitats.

Translations

hydrophilic substance

• Italian: idrofila (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Adjective

hydrophile (comparative more hydrophile, superlative most hydrophile)

1. Hydrophilic.
   • 1926, Ars Medici:

     lt is difficult to produce an absolutely non-irritant vaseline. Lanolin (wool fat) is indeed clear and smooth but it is neither very hydrophile nor neutral, so that it cannot be mixed with basic substances such as zinc oxide without saponifying.

   • 1976, Studia biophysica:

     Partial dehydration of MetHb (by forming films at high relative humidities from solutions) produces a haemichrome structure of this molecule. These structural changes are prevented by binding the molecules to a very hydrophile dialdehyde - Sephadex carrier (DAS).

   • 1982, Y.P. Mel'nik, Precambrian Banded-Iron-Formations (→ISBN), page 130:

     They are very hydrophile, and hydration of the particles is a factor sufficient to make the colloidal system stable even in the absence of stabilizing electrolytes, i.e. when the particles have no electrical charge of their own.

   • 2000, Geological Quarterly:

     [...] reacts with water to a minimum extent, by contrast with minerals of the smectite group, which are regarded as very hydrophile due to their labile, “mobile” structure.

See also

• lipophile

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

hydrophile (plural hydrophiles)

1. absorbant
2. (chemistry) hydrophilic

Noun

hydrophile m (plural hydrophiles)

1. (zoology) hydrophilid

Further reading

• “hydrophile”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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German

Adjective

hydrophile

1. inflection of hydrophil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular