What does humidify mean?
To humidify is to make the air or an environment more humid, meaning to increase its moisture content. The word is especially common in relation to buildings, greenhouses, museums, and other places where excessive dryness can make the air uncomfortable or damage sensitive materials. A device that performs this function is called a humidifier, while the process of making something humid is humidification. Although humidify can describe adding moisture directly, it is also used more broadly for any action that raises humidity, such as ventilating a dry room with moist outdoor air. The related adjective humid describes air that is already moist, while humidity names the measurable amount of moisture in the atmosphere. Humidify is therefore particularly useful when discussing the deliberate control of indoor environments and the maintenance of comfortable or stable conditions.
verbTo make something humid or to increase the amount of moisture in the air.
- To make the air or another environment more humid, especially by introducing moisture.
"A cool mist can humidify the dry air inside a greenhouse."
"The building's humidifiers humidify the air during the winter."
"Opening the windows briefly can humidify a stuffy room on a cool day."
Humidify turns dry air into a welcome reminder that moisture is an invisible ingredient in every comfortable room.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does humidify come from?
Humidify was formed in English by adding the suffix -ify to humid, meaning to make something humid. Humid entered English through French humide from Latin humidus, an adjective meaning moist or damp. The same Latin root is reflected in humidity and humidor, while Latin words derived from humidus also contributed to the word family.
Related word forms
How humidify is actually used
The word is formal and technical but clear. It is more commonly used of air, rooms, and other indoor environments than of individual materials.
Easily confused with humidify
Humid describes something that already has a high moisture content, whereas humidify is the verb for making something more humid.