surfactant

English

Etymology

surface-active agent

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səɹˈfæktənt/

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.

Derived terms

• biosurfactant
• cosurfactant
• fluorosurfactant
• nonsurfactant
• prosurfactant
• surfactantless

 

Translations

surface active agent

• Arabic: عَامِل سَطْحِيّ (ʕāmil saṭḥiyy)
• Finnish: tensidi (fi), pinta-aktiivinen aine, surfaktantti (fi)
• French: tensioactif (fr), mouillant (fr), surfactant (fr), surfactif (fr)
• German: Tensid (de) n
• Italian: tensioattivo (it) m, surfattante (it), surfactante (it)
• Japanese: 界面活性剤 (かいめんかっせいざい, kaimen-kasseizai)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: surfactante (pt), tensioativo, tensoativo
• Russian: пове́рхностно-акти́вное вещество́ (ru) n (povérxnostno-aktívnoje veščestvó)
• Slovene: omočilo
• Spanish: surfactante (es), tensoactivo, tensioactivo
• Thai: สารลดแรงตึงผิว (sǎan-lót-rɛɛng-dtʉng-pǐu)
• Turkish: sürfektan

lipoprotein that facilitates gas transport in the lungs

• Finnish: surfaktantti (fi)
• Japanese: 肺表面活性物質 (はいひょうめんかっせいぶっしつ, hai-hyōmen-kassei-busshitsu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Swedish: surfaktant (sv) c
• Turkish: sürfektan