Porous
adjectiveFull of tiny holes or spaces that allow liquid, air, or other things to pass through.
How to spell porous
6 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce porous
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does porous mean?
- adjectiveFull of tiny holes or spaces that allow liquid, air, or other things to pass through.
Porous in a sentence
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The soil here is so porous that water drains away within minutes.
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Unsealed terracotta is porous and will stain if you spill wine on it.
Where does porous come from?
Language of origin: Latin
The word comes from the Latin porosus, meaning 'full of pores', which was built on porus, a small opening or passage. That Latin noun was itself borrowed from the Greek poros, meaning a way through, a ford, or a channel, the same sense that survives in scientific terms like 'pore'. English took the word from Old French poros or poreux in the late 1300s, originally to describe materials such as stone, bone, or skin that are riddled with tiny holes through which liquid or air can seep. Over time the meaning broadened figuratively to cover anything easily crossed or penetrated, such as a porous border. A useful spelling cue is that the root pore sits visibly inside porous, so it is por- plus -ous, never the -us ending of words like 'famous' written without the o.
How the word is built
- por- (from Latin porus: a passage or pore)
- -ous (adjective suffix meaning 'full of')
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