osmosis

Etymology

It is a Latinized alteration from English of osmose,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} made after endosmosis and exosmosis, with the ending of -osis.^[2][8][9] Osmose (1854) was taken by T. Graham as a general term from the ending of endosmose and exosmose,^[2][3][10] and endosmose (1829) is French endosmose, formed by Dutrochet as if from a modern Latin endosmosis.^[2] The final element of these words represents Ancient Greek ὠσμός (ōsmós, “thrust, push”),^{[2][3][11][12]} from ὠθέω (ōthéō, “to push, thrust”),^[2][3][1] which the OED and Klein trace to the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit and Avestan verbs meaning to strike or repulse;^[2][11] Etymonline gives it as Proto-Indo-European *wedh- (“to push, strike”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The passage of a solvent through a semipermeable membrane into a more concentrated solution: 1863, in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives 1863,^[8] while Barnhart and Etymonline date the form osmosis to 1867.^[4][10][3]

Semantic evolution

The word began in physiology and chemistry, replacing the earlier endosmose and endosmosis and the short form osmose, which the OED records from 1854.^[2][10] From 1900 it was used figuratively of a gradual, often unconscious absorption of ideas, knowledge or influences, as if by seeping through a membrane.^[2][3][7] The adjective osmotic goes back to 1854, from the earlier endosmotic.^[3]

Timeline

• 1863 – the passage of a solvent through a semipermeable membrane.^[2][8] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1867.^[10][3]
• 1900 – figurative, gradual and unconscious absorption of ideas or influences.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The movement of a solvent, usually water, through a semipermeable membrane from a weaker into a stronger solution, tending to equalize the concentrations on the two sides.^[7][8][2]
2. Diffusion through any membrane or porous barrier.^[7][8]
3. A gradual, often unconscious taking in of ideas, knowledge or habits: She picked up French by osmosis during her years in Lyon.^[7][8][2]

Word family

• osmotic
• osmotically
• chemosmosis
• electroosmosis
• endosmosis
• exosmosis
• reverse osmosis

Related words

• osmose

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray