different between moisture vs hydric

English

Etymology

From Middle English moisture, from Old French moistour (“moisture, dampness, wetness”). Compare French moiteur.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m??st??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m??st??/

Noun

moisture (usually uncountable, plural moistures)

1. That which moistens or makes damp or wet; exuding fluid; liquid in small quantity.
   • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act II, Scene 1,^[1]

     I cannot weep; for all my body’s moisture

     Scarce serves to quench my furnace-burning heart:

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Luke 8.6,^[2]

     And some [seed] fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.

   • 1839, Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, Chapter 7,^[3]

     […] Nicholas Nickleby’s eyes were dimmed with a moisture that might have been taken for tears.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, London: Constable, Chapter 3, p. 39,^[4]

     […] as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal, till I could see in the moonlight the moisture shining on the scarlet lips and on the red tongue as it lapped the white sharp teeth.

   • 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 6, p. 65,^[5]

     The sage—low-growing and shrubby—could hold its place on the mountain slopes and on the plains, and within its small gray leaves it could hold moisture enough to defy the thieving winds.

2. The state of being moist.

   Synonyms: dampness, humidity, wetness

   • 1627, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum: or A Naturall Historie, London: William Lee, Century 4, p. 84,^[6]

     […] all Exclusion of Open Aire, (which is euer Predatory) maintaineth the Body in his first Freshnesse, and Moisture:

   • 1643, John Denham, Coopers Hill, p. 7,^[7]

     Such was the discord, which did first disperse

     Forme, order, beauty through the universe;

     While drynesse moisture, coldnesse heat resists,

     All that we have, and that we are subsists:

   • 1794, Erasmus Darwin, Zoonomia, London: J. Johnson, Volume 1, Section 7, I.1, p. 39,^[8]

     [The organs of touch are excited] by the unceasing variations of the heat, moisture, and pressure of the atmosphere;

3. (medicine) Skin moisture noted as dry, moist, clammy, or diaphoretic as part of the skin signs assessment.

Synonyms

• weakiness

Related terms

• moist
• moisten
• moisturise, moisturize
• moisturiser, moisturizer

Translations

Anagrams

• misroute

Middle English

Alternative forms

• moistere, moysture, moystyr, moyster, moystur, mostowre

Etymology

From Old French moistour; equivalent to moiste +? -ure.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?i?stiu?r(?)/, /?m?i?stur(?)/, /?m?i?st?r(?)/

Noun

moisture

1. moistness, wetness
2. moisture, humidity
3. fluid, secretion
4. (figuratively) Something invigorating.

Usage notes

• Used as a technical term in alchemy and medicine.

Synonyms

• moisture

Descendants

• English: moisture

References

• “moist?r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

English

Etymology

hydro- +? -ic

Adjective

hydric (not comparable)

1. Characterized by, or requiring, moisture.
2. (forestry) Sufficiently wet to inhibit the survival of many species.
   • 1998, John C. Kricher, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, A Field Guide to Eastern Forests, North America

     Hydric environments, a form of extreme environment for trees, are often inhabited by relatively few species.

3. (chemistry) Relating to hydrogen.
4. (organic chemistry) Relating to alcohols.

Antonyms

• (moisture): xeric

Derived terms