Standard Lemma guide

hydrophilic

adj · 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: HH AY2 D R AH0 F IH1 L IH0 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Having an affinity for water; able to absorb, or be wetted by water; water-loving.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

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

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hygroscopic

Antonyms: hydrophobic

2

adjective

Meaning 2

having a strong affinity for water; tending to dissolve in, mix with, or be wetted by water

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: hydrophobic

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wed- Proto-Indo-European *-r̥ Proto-Indo-European *wódr̥ Proto-Hellenic *údōr Ancient Greek ῡ̆̔́δωρ (hū̆́dōr) Ancient Greek ῠ̔δρο- (hŭdro-)der. English hydro- English -philic English hydrophilic From hydro- + -philic.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: хидрофи́лен (hidrofílen) — having an affinity for water
  • Catalan: higròfil — having an affinity for water
  • Chinese Mandarin: 親水性 /亲水性 (qīnshuǐxìng) — having an affinity for water
  • Danish: hydrofil — having an affinity for water
  • Danish: vandelskende — having an affinity for water
  • Finnish: hydrofiilinen — having an affinity for water
  • French: hydrophile — having an affinity for water
  • German: hydrophil — having an affinity for water
  • Greek: υδρόφιλος (ydrófilos) — having an affinity for water
  • Hungarian: hidrofil — having an affinity for water
  • Icelandic: vatnssækinn — having an affinity for water
  • Icelandic: vatnsfíkinn — having an affinity for water
  • Italian: idrofilo — having an affinity for water
  • Northern Kurdish: avxwaz — having an affinity for water
  • Polish: hydrofilowy — having an affinity for water
  • Portuguese: hidrofílico — having an affinity for water
  • Russian: гидрофи́льный (gidrofílʹnyj) — having an affinity for water
  • Spanish: hidrofílico — having an affinity for water
  • Tagalog: tubighigumin — having an affinity for water
  • Ukrainian: гідрофільний (hidrofilʹnyj) — having an affinity for water