What does endosmose mean?
Endosmose is a technical noun denoting the inward flow of a liquid or dissolved substance through a porous or semipermeable membrane. It is essentially an older form of the word endosmosis, coined in the vocabulary of nineteenth-century physiology when the French scientist Henri Dutrochet distinguished the direction of membrane transport: endosmose for movement into a cell or cavity, and exosmose for movement out of it. In modern usage the direction-neutral term osmosis has absorbed most of this work, so endosmose survives chiefly in historical and translated scientific texts. A reader encountering it should understand it as describing one half of the osmotic process — the current that draws water or solutes inward across a membrane, as when a cell swells in dilute solution. Though rare today, the word is a useful window into how biologists first conceptualized diffusion before terminology standardized.
nounThe flow of a fluid or dissolved substance inward through a porous or semipermeable membrane; the inward-directed form of osmosis. It is chiefly an older or technical variant of the term endosmosis.
- The passage of a liquid or dissolved substance inward through a porous or semipermeable membrane, especially in early physiological usage; now generally superseded by endosmosis.
"Dutrochet observed that water passed into the sac by endosmose while the sugar solution remained within."
"In his experiments on plant tissues, Dutrochet attributed the swelling of cells to the action of endosmose."
"Early physiologists measured the rate of endosmose across an animal bladder stretched over the mouth of a glass tube."
Rarely used in the plural, since the term typically refers to the process in general rather than countable instances.
"Different membranes exhibited markedly different rates of endosmoses under identical conditions."
Before scientists settled on 'osmosis', the French physiologist René Dutrochet described the two directions of membrane flow separately — endosmose for inward, exosmose for outward.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of endosmose
Endosmose derives from French endosmose, formed from the Greek prefix endo- ('within') combined with ōsmos ('impulse' or 'push'), itself related to the verb ōthein, 'to push'. The term was introduced by the French physiologist Henri Dutrochet in the 1820s to describe inward membrane flow, paired with its opposite, exosmose. English borrowed both words directly from French; the anglicized forms endosmosis and exosmosis later arose alongside them.
Related word forms
How endosmose is actually used
A technical and largely historical term, found mainly in older scientific literature and in translations of French physiology texts; modern biology writing uses osmosis or endosmosis instead.
Easily confused with endosmose
Exosmose denotes the outward flow of fluid through a membrane, whereas endosmose denotes the inward flow.
Osmosis is the general term for diffusion of solvent through a semipermeable membrane in either direction, while endosmose specifically refers to the inward current.