What does hydrate mean?
Hydrate means to supply something with water or moisture, to absorb water, or, in chemical contexts, to combine with water. In everyday language, it is often used when describing drinking water or otherwise replenishing the body's fluids: people speak of staying hydrated during exercise or in hot weather. The word can also describe watering soil, plants, or other materials. In chemistry, hydration specifically refers to the addition or chemical combination of water with a substance. The verb is commonly used in health, fitness, gardening, food, and scientific writing, and its related noun, hydration, describes the state or process of being supplied with water. Although hydrate is straightforward in modern usage, its scientific sense is more precise than simply making something damp, since hydration involves water in a chemical as well as a physical sense.
To give water or moisture to something, or to absorb water and become moist.
"They hydrated the plants before leaving the office."
In everyday use, it often means to drink water or replenish the body's fluids.
To combine a substance chemically with water.
"The mineral gradually hydrates when exposed to moisture."
This is a specialized chemical use.
A substance or compound formed by the chemical combination of water with another substance.
"The solution produced a hydrate that could be separated and analysed."
This noun is used mainly in chemistry.
The plural is used chiefly in chemical contexts for different compounds formed through hydration.
"The researchers compared the structures of several hydrates."
The word hydrate hides a journey through water: it comes from the Greek word for water and still carries that element in its chemistry.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of hydrate
The word hydrate comes through Latin from the Greek hudōr, meaning “water.” The English term was established in scientific usage in the early nineteenth century, when chemistry increasingly distinguished the addition of water from other forms of combination. Its relatives include dehydration, dehydrate, hydraulic, and hydrogen, all reflecting the same ancient water-root.
Related word forms
How hydrate is actually used
In general use, hydrate often means to drink enough water to maintain bodily hydration, although the verb can also be used for objects and plants. In chemistry, it has the more technical sense of a substance combining with water.
Easily confused with hydrate
A dehydrated substance has lost water, whereas a hydrated substance contains or has absorbed water.
Hydrogenation refers to the addition of hydrogen to a substance, while hydration specifically involves water.