What does exsiccation mean?
Exsiccation refers to the thorough drying out of a substance — the complete removal of moisture from it — and, in medical and biological contexts, the abnormal dehydration of bodily tissues or living organisms. Derived from the Latin verb siccare, meaning 'to dry', the word belongs to a formal register and appears most often in scientific writing: botanists speak of the exsiccation of herbarium specimens, chemists of the exsiccation of reagents, and physicians historically used it to describe patients parched by fever. Although it functions as a precise synonym of desiccation, exsiccation is far less common today, lending any sentence in which it occurs a distinctly technical or scholarly flavour. Its derivatives include the verbs exsiccate (to dry out) and the noun exsiccator (a vessel for keeping things dry). For writers seeking an exacting, Latin-rooted alternative to plainer words like 'drying' or 'dehydration', exsiccation offers both precision and pedigree.
nounThe process or state of becoming thoroughly dried out; the removal of moisture, especially from a living organism or substance.
- The act or process of drying something completely; removal of all moisture from a substance.
- (Medicine/biology) The abnormal drying out of bodily tissues or organisms, as in dehydration.
"The exsiccation of the herbarium specimens was carried out slowly to preserve their delicate structures."
"Complete exsiccation of the plant tissue left it brittle enough to be crushed to powder by hand."
"In severe fever, the patient suffered marked exsiccation of the mucous membranes."
Rarely pluralised; usually treated as an uncountable mass noun referring to a process.
"Repeated exsiccations of the sample degraded its chemical integrity."
'Exsiccation' shares its Latin root with 'siccative' — the word painters use for a drying agent — making it part of a family that has been soaking up moisture since antiquity.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of exsiccation
Exsiccation comes from the Latin verb siccare ('to make dry'), formed on the adjective siccus ('dry'), combined with the intensive prefix ex- and the noun-forming suffix -atio. It entered English via post-classical and scientific Latin, with the related verb exsiccate attested from around the early 17th century. The same Latin root siccus underlies cognates such as desiccate and siccative, giving English a small but productive family of 'dry' words.
Word family
Usage notes
A formal, technical word found chiefly in scientific, medical, botanical, and laboratory contexts. It is considerably rarer than 'desiccation', which is preferred in most general writing.
Don't confuse with
Desiccation is the far more common term for drying out; 'exsiccation' is a rarer, more technical synonym, and the two are sometimes confused because they sound alike.