Hydrated

How to spell hydrated

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce hydrated

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does hydrated mean?

1. adjectiveHaving taken in or retained enough water or fluid; not dried out.
2. adjectiveOf a chemical compound, combined with molecules of water.

Hydrated in a sentence

• Drinking water during the hike kept the runners well hydrated.

• The blue crystals are a hydrated form of copper sulphate.

• A good moisturiser leaves the skin soft and hydrated.

• Heating the hydrated salt drives off the water and changes its colour.

Where does hydrated come from?

Language of origin: Greek

The core of this word is the Greek hydor, meaning simply 'water', the same root that gives us hydrant, hydraulic, and hydrogen (literally the 'water-former'). Chemists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries coined the verb 'hydrate' to describe combining a substance with water, fitting the Greek root with the familiar Latin-style verb ending -ate. From there 'hydrated' emerged as the participle and adjective for anything that has taken on or retained water. The everyday sense about people and skin keeping up their fluid levels is more recent, growing popular through health and fitness writing in the twentieth century. The spelling trap is the opening 'hy', since the y carries the vowel sound where a writer might expect an i; remembering the hydro- family (hydrant, hydroelectric) keeps that y in place.

How the word is built

• hydr- (from Greek hydor: water)
• -ate (verb-forming suffix)
• -ed (past participle / adjective ending)