Phrase guide

heavy water

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen (protium) (thus, 2H2O); used as a moderator in nuclear reactors.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: chemistry, inorganic-chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deuterium oxide, deuterated water

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: water, mul:H2O, substance

2

noun

Meaning 2

water containing a substantial proportion of deuterium atoms, used in nuclear reactors

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deuterium oxide

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: moderator

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

30 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: тежка вода (težka voda) — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Chinese Mandarin: 重水 (zhòngshuǐ) — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Danish: tungt vand — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Dutch: zwaar water — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Faroese: tungt vatn — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Finnish: raskasvesi — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • French: eau lourde — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • German: schweres Wasser — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Icelandic: þungt vatn — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Indonesian: air berat — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Italian: acqua pesante — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Japanese: 重水 (jūsui) — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Kazakh: ауыр су (auyr su) — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Navajo: tó nidaaz — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tungtvann — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tungtvatn — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tungtvatn — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tungvatn — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Persian: آب سنگین (âb-e sangin) — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Polish: ciężka woda — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Portuguese: água pesada — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Portuguese: água deuterada — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Romanian: apă grea — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Russian: тяжёлая вода́ (tjažólaja vodá) — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Spanish: agua pesada — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Swedish: tungt vatten — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Tagalog: mabigat na tubig — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Tagalog: tubig na mabigat — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Turkish: ağır su — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen
  • Vietnamese: nước nặng — water containing deuterium instead of normal hydrogen