Evaporable

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the potential to change from liquid to gas when heated
2. Describing a material that may readily transition into vapor form under appropriate circumstances
3. Able to transform from liquid to vapor state when subjected to heat or similar conditions

Etymology: "Evaporable" is "evaporate" plus the suffix "-able," meaning "capable of being," so it describes something capable of being turned into vapor. "Evaporate" comes from Latin "evaporare," formed from "e-" (out, away) and "vapor" (steam, vapour), so the literal sense is something like "to steam away" or "to disperse as vapor." The base verb's older sense is worth noting. Early English uses of "evaporate" often applied to moisture and humours in the body, and writers also used it figuratively for something dispersing or disappearing, not only for liquid turning to gas. The physical sense of water turning to vapour became dominant later, as chemistry and physics developed. The adjective follows the common English pattern of attaching "-able" to verbs, so its meaning comes directly from the verb. The exact date of the adjective's first recorded use is uncertain, so it is safest to treat it as a later formation built on the older verb.

Synonyms: volatile, vaporous, fugitive, transient, impermanent

Antonyms: stable, solid, fixed, constant, unchanging