Hydrophilize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To treat a material so that it gains an affinity for water or becomes easily wetted by water
2. To modify a surface or compound causing it to interact favorably with water molecules
3. To render a substance capable of attracting or absorbing water through chemical or physical changes

Etymology: Hydrophilize is a plain technical coinage, built from "hydrophile" with the verb-forming suffix "-ize". The Greek roots behind it are "hydor", meaning water, and "philos", meaning loving or fond of, so a hydrophile is something that takes to water, such as a substance that mixes readily with it. The word "hydrophile" itself is a modern scientific formation from those classical elements, not a term used by the ancient Greeks. The suffix "-ize" comes from Greek "-izein", used to turn nouns and adjectives into verbs meaning "to make" or "to treat in a certain way". English has used it for centuries, and chemists and materials scientists attach it freely to new coinages. Hydrophilize therefore means to give a surface or material a water-attracting quality so that it becomes easily wetted, a process often applied to plastics, fabrics, or membranes.