Rehydrate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To restore water to a dried substance to return it to its original state ; to replace lost body fluids in a person or animal to maintain proper hydration
2. The process of adding water back into dehydrated material to make it usable again ; the act of replenishing fluids lost through sweating, illness, or other causes
3. Reintroducing moisture into dried food or other items to revive their texture ; supplying fluids to someone to prevent or treat dehydration

Etymology: The word is a simple prefixing of "hydrate" with "re-", meaning "again" or "back." "Hydrate" itself reaches English from French "hydrate," which was built from the Greek "hydro-," combining "hudōr," the ancient Greek word for water, with the chemical suffix "-ate." So the core idea of the word is literally "to water again." The Greek root behind it is one of the most familiar in science. "Hudōr" gives English words such as hydrant, hydraulic and dropsy-related terms, and it has been traced back through Proto-Indo-European to a very old root for water. The chemical sense of "hydrate," meaning a compound that has taken up water molecules, arrived in English through French and became standard in scientific writing. "Rehydrate" follows the same path, with the prefix "re-" attached. It is a straightforward English formation from the two parts, and its literal sense of restoring water to something dried out still shows clearly in its everyday uses, such as rehydrating dried food or replacing fluids lost while sweating.

Synonyms: replenish, restore, hydrate, moisten, revive

Antonyms: dehydrate, dry, desiccate, evaporate, parch