porosity

[ paw-ros-i-tee, poh-, puh- ]
/ pɔˈrɒs ɪ ti, poʊ-, pə- /

noun, plural po·ros·i·ties for 2.

the state or quality of being porous.
Geology, Engineering. the ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the volume of the pores or interstices of a substance, as a rock or rock stratum, to the total volume of the mass.

Origin of porosity

1350–1400; Middle English porosytee < Medieval Latin porōsitās. See porous, -ity

historical usage of porosity

Porosity, “the state or quality of being porous or full of pores,” comes via Middle French and Old French porosité, porrosité from Medieval Latin porositās (stem porositāt- ), a derivative of the Medieval Latin adjective porōsus “porous,” itself a derivative of Late Latin porus “a passage, a channel in the body, an air passage.”
Porus is a borrowing of Greek póros “passage, ford, means, way out,” from the Proto-Indo-European root per-, por- (with other variants) “to lead, pass, pass over,” from which Latin derives portus “harbor” (from the sense “passage”) and portāre “to carry.” Proto-Indo-European por- becomes far- in Germanic, forming the verb faran “to wander,” Old English faran “to go, proceed, travel” (English fare ). From far-, Germanic also forms the verb farjan, Old English ferian “to carry, convey, transport” (English ferry ).
Both porous and porosity first appeared in a 14th-century English translation of a Latin encyclopedia of the sciences, an influential work that was written in the mid-13th century. The reference was to the tongue, described as being “porous and spongy.”

Example sentences from the Web for porosity

British Dictionary definitions for porosity

porosity
/ (pɔːˈrɒsɪtɪ) /

noun plural -ties

the state or condition of being porous
geology the ratio of the volume of space to the total volume of a rock

Word Origin for porosity

C14: from Medieval Latin porōsitās, from Late Latin porus pore ²

Medical definitions for porosity

porosity
[ pə-rŏsĭ-tē, pô- ]

n.

The state or property of being porous.
A structure or part that is porous.
A cavity or perforation.

Scientific definitions for porosity

porosity
[ pə-rŏsĭ-tē, pô- ]

The condition of being porous.
The ratio of the volume of all the pores in a material to the volume of the whole.