Repellence

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The unpleasant quality of causing disgust or aversion in people ; the capacity of a material to resist or shed water and other liquids
2. Being so off-putting that others recoil from it ; the property of a surface that keeps moisture or dirt from soaking in or sticking
3. Repulsiveness that makes something hard to approach or bear ; a substance's ability to fend off water, stains or insects

Etymology: "Repellence" is an alternative spelling of "repellency," and the two words share a simple and transparent history. The base is "repellent," which in turn comes from the Latin verb "repellere," meaning "to drive back" or "to push away," built from "re-" (back) and "pellere" (to drive). English adopted the adjective "repellent" to describe things that drive off or resist, and later extended it to mean something that repels a person, as in a disgusting smell or a repulsive character. The noun ending "-cy" was added to "repellent" to turn the quality into a thing that can be named, so "repellency" (or "repellence") denotes the capacity to repel. It is most often used in technical settings, such as describing a fabric's resistance to water or an insect repellent's power to keep pests away. The ending "-cy" follows the same pattern as in "fluency" from "fluent" or "tendency" from "tendent," showing how English turns adjectives into nouns of quality.

Synonyms: repellency, repulsion, repulsiveness

Antonyms: attraction, attractiveness