Exsiccated

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having been removed of all moisture, resulting in a very dry condition
2. Devoid of all moisture or water content, leaving a thoroughly dry state
3. Processed to eliminate nearly all liquid, causing extreme dryness

Etymology: "Exsiccated" is the past participle of "exsiccate," a verb borrowed from Latin "exsicco," meaning to dry thoroughly. The Latin verb is built from "ex-," meaning "out" or "thoroughly," and "siccus," meaning "dry." That second element has a close English relative in "desiccate," which comes from the same Latin root, so the two words are sisters that took different routes into English: "exsiccate" keeps the intensifying prefix in its full form, while "desiccate" uses "de-" to carry a similar sense of drying out. The adjective describes something that has had almost all of its moisture removed, pushing dryness to an extreme. Its literal Latin sense is preserved in the prefix, which tells you the drying is thorough rather than partial. The root "siccus" also appears in the English word "sicker" only in the sense of a different Old English tradition, so it is best not to link them; the clearest English descendant of the root remains "desiccate."

Synonyms: dried, dehydrated, desiccated

Antonyms: moistened, hydrated, wet