Science & TechnologyGreek → English
Osmosis
/ɒzˈmoʊsɪs/noun
The movement of a solvent through a membrane toward the side where the solution is stronger.
The Greek roots
ὠσμός
ōsmós
a push, thrust
ὠθεῖν
ōtheîn
to push
Literally: “a pushing”
The story of the word
Henri Dutrochet named the two directions in 1826, endosmose for the flow in and exosmose for the flow out; English shortened them and settled on osmosis by 1867. The root is a shove, ὠθεῖν, and has nothing to do with ὀσμή, smell, which gives osmium. The figurative use, absorbing something by sitting near it, is twentieth-century.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1867
Same family
endosmosisosmoticosmoregulation
In a sentence
Salt draws water out of the cucumber by osmosis.
He learned the trade by osmosis, standing behind his father at the counter.