Moisture
nounA small amount of water present in the air, on a surface, or within a substance.
How to spell moisture
8 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce moisture
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does moisture mean?
- nounA small amount of water present in the air, on a surface, or within a substance.
Moisture in a sentence
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The moisture in the bathroom had caused the paint to peel.
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This cream locks moisture into dry skin throughout the day.
Where does moisture come from?
Language of origin: French
Moisture entered English in the 1300s from the Old French moistour or moisteur, a noun built on the adjective moiste, meaning 'damp' or 'wet'. The French adjective traces back to Latin, most likely to musteus, meaning 'fresh' or 'juicy', which itself came from mustum, the term for new, unfermented wine still bubbling with liquid. Over time the sense narrowed from general juiciness to the specific idea of slight wetness or dampness held in air, soil, or skin. The English adjective 'moist' was borrowed alongside it, and the -ure ending (the same suffix seen in 'pleasure' and 'pressure') turned the quality into a thing you can measure. The spelling trap lives in the middle: the 'oi' is pronounced clearly, but the unstressed '-ture' ending sounds like 'cher', which tempts writers to misplace letters.
How the word is built
- moist (damp)
- -ure (noun-forming suffix denoting a state or quality)
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