Vaporimeter

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A measurement instrument that detects and quantifies the concentration of vapor within environmental air
2. A device designed to gauge the levels of vapor and analyze its presence in gaseous forms
3. An apparatus used to determine the amount of vapor present in a given air sample

Etymology: "Vaporimeter" is a technical coinage built from "vapor," with a connecting vowel "-i-," and the suffix "-meter," which comes from Greek "metron," meaning "measure." Put together, the name describes exactly what the instrument does: it measures vapor. The pattern is the same one behind thermometer, barometer and hygrometer, which were all named for the physical quantity they gauge. The "-i-" is a linking vowel of the sort scientists inserted when joining Latin or Greek elements, which is why the word reads as a neat chain of parts rather than a single inherited term. "Vapor" itself comes from Latin "vapor," meaning steam or breath, so the instrument's name carries a very old idea of a rising, unseen mist into a modern laboratory context.