humectant

/hjuːˈmɛktənt/

humectant noun: any substance that promotes the retention of water, especially one used to keep a food product moist.

Noun

humectant (plural humectants)

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.1911, Hampton's Magazine, volume 27, number 1, page 462
- The humectant is preferably added at this stage, subsequent to centrifuging, because it increases the viscosity of the slurry. The centrifuged material with the combined humectant is then dried to remove all or most of the water.1973, Ronald W. James, Desiccants and humectants, page 285

ஈரமாக்கி, நனப்பான், நப் பேற்றி

plural	humectants

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

What does humectant mean?: Humectant means any substance that promotes the retention of water, especially one used to keep a food product moist.
What is humectant in Tamil?: Humectant in Tamil is ஈரமாக்கி, நனப்பான், நப் பேற்றி. See Humectant meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is humectant?: Humectant is a noun.
How do you pronounce humectant?: Humectant is pronounced /hjuːˈmɛktənt/.
What is the plural of humectant?: The plural of humectant is humectants.

Adapted from Wiktionary: humectant (page history and authors); humectant (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “humectant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/humectant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.