Osmometry

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A method to measure osmotic pressure that helps identify solute concentrations in solutions
2. A scientific approach focusing on osmotic properties by evaluating pressure differences in liquid mixtures
3. A procedure used to determine the osmotic pressure exerted by dissolved substances in a solution

Etymology: "Osmometry" is a plain technical compound, built from "osmo-" and "-metry." The first element comes from "osmosis," the process by which solvent passes through a semi-permeable membrane, and that word itself is a modern coinage built on the Greek "ōsmos," meaning "push" or "impulse," which describes the way the solvent seems to be pushed across the barrier. The second element, "-metry," comes from Greek "metron," meaning "measure," the same root behind "geometry" and "thermometer." Put together, osmometry names the measurement of osmotic pressure, the force that builds up when a solution draws in solvent across a membrane. Like many scientific words of its era, it was assembled from classical Greek parts to name a concept that the ancient Greeks never knew, so its look is ancient but its making is recent.