Porosity

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of having tiny holes or spaces that allow liquids or gases to pass through a material
2. The state of a substance that allows for the presence of numerous small voids or openings, facilitating the movement of fluids or gases through it
3. This refers to the characteristic of materials possessing small cavities, enabling the transmission of liquids and gases internally

Etymology: Porosity is a plain formation: the English adjective "porous" with the suffix "-ity" attached. "Porous" itself comes from Greek "poros", meaning a passage or pore, and its ancestors trace back to an ancient root for a way through or a passage. The Greek word reached English through Latin and French, where the notion of a passage gradually became the idea of a material full of tiny openings. The suffix does the grammatical work. "-ity" comes through Latin "-itās" and Old French "-ite", and English uses it to turn adjectives into nouns naming a quality, so "porosity" names the state of being porous. Its ancestry runs through several languages before reaching English in its current form.

Synonyms: permeability, voidness, sponginess, porousness

Antonyms: density, solidness, impenetrability