What does "humectant" mean?

Any substance that promotes the retention of water, especially one used to keep a food product moist.

What is a synonym for "humectant"?

Common synonyms include: drenching, moistening, soaking, sopping, watering.

How do you pronounce "humectant"?

Pronounced //hjuːˈmɛktənt//.

Humectant

//hjuːˈmɛktənt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any substance that promotes the retention of water, especially one used to keep a food product moist.
"[…] that you have induced a horrid phlegmatic condition with will soon require a liberal and generous humectant to keep the very membranes of your very entrails from desquamating, chipping off and blocking up all the pipes of your body."
2
any substance that is added to another substance to keep it moist wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

drenching moistening soaking sopping watering

Example

More examples

"[…] that you have induced a horrid phlegmatic condition with will soon require a liberal and generous humectant to keep the very membranes of your very entrails from desquamating, chipping off and blocking up all the pipes of your body."

Etymology

From Latin ūmectāns, present participle of ūmectō (“to moisten”), from ūmectus (“moist”), from ūmeō (“to be moist”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.