porosity
[ paw-ros-i-tee, poh-, puh- ]
/ pɔˈrɒs ɪ ti, poʊ-, pə- /
noun, plural po·ros·i·ties for 2.
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.”
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.”
Words nearby porosity
porocele,
porokeratosis,
poroma,
poromeric,
porosis,
porosity,
porotomy,
porous,
porphin,
porphobilin,
porphobilinogen
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-rŏs′ĭ-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-rŏs′ĭ-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.