hydrophobe

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French hydrophobe, from Latin hydrophobus, from Ancient Greek ὑδροφόβος (hudrophóbos), from ὑδρο- (hudro-, “water”) +‎ φόβος (phóbos, “fear, dread”).

Noun

hydrophobe (plural hydrophobes)

1. (chemistry) A hydrophobic compound or material.
2. Someone who is affected by hydrophobia (a fear or aversion to water).

   Synonyms: aquaphobe, waterfunk

   • 1861 September 7, “Tale of the Tub”, in The Living Age, volume XIV (third series), number 901, Boston, M.A.: Littell, Son, & Co., →OCLC, page 613, column 1:

     The shock of the meeting triremes was tremendous, and in a moment the poor little hydrophobes were spluttering in the pond: […]

   • 2006 July 2, Frank Gannon, “The Deep”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-01-16:

     If I talk to 10 people, there is usually a fellow hydrophobe among them. It is hard to pick them out, because a person who is afraid of water looks very much like a normal person. But, from talking with fellow hydrophobes, I have discovered something we almost all share: more times than not, our fear of water stems from one intensely bad experience that came during our childhoods.

Derived terms

• superhydrophobe

 

Related terms

• hydrophobia
• hydrophobic

 

Translations

hydrophobic compound or material

• Italian: idrofobo (it) m
• Polish: hydrofob (pl) m

French

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /i.dʁɔ.fɔb/

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

hydrophobe (plural hydrophobes)

1. hydrophobic (lacking an affinity for water)

Noun

hydrophobe m or f by sense (plural hydrophobes)

1. hydrophobe

Further reading

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

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

hydrophobe

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

Latin

Adjective

hydrophobe

1. vocative masculine singular of hydrophobus