Earth & SkyGreek → English
Hygrometer
/haɪˈɡrɒmɪtər/noun
An instrument that measures humidity in the air.
The Greek roots
ὑγρός
hygrós
wet, moist
μέτρον
métron
measure
Literally: “wet measure”
The story of the word
ὑγρός means wet or fluid, so the instrument reads moisture in the air rather than water in a pipe. Hygiene looks like a cousin and is not, coming instead from ὑγιεινή, healthy. Early hygrometers used a human hair under slight tension, which lengthens measurably as humidity rises, and de Saussure built a reliable one on that principle in 1783.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
hygroscopicthermometerbarometeranemometer
In a sentence
The hygrometer in the cellar sat at eighty per cent all summer, which explained the labels peeling off the bottles.