liquid

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A substance that is flowing, and keeping no shape, such as water; a substance of which the molecules, while not tending to separate from one another like those of a gas, readily change their relative position, and which therefore retains no definite shape, except that determined by the containing receptacle; an inelastic fluid.
  2. Any of a class of consonant sounds that includes l and r.
adj
  1. Flowing freely like water; fluid; not solid and not gaseous; composed of particles that move freely among each other on the slightest pressure.
  2. Easily sold or disposed of without losing value.
  3. Having sufficient trading activity to make buying or selling easy.
  4. Flowing or sounding smoothly or without abrupt transitions or harsh tones.
  5. Belonging to a class of consonants comprising the laterals and the rhotics, which in many languages behave similarly.
  6. Fluid and transparent.

Pronunciation

/ˈlɪk.wɪd/ [ˈlɪk.wɪd] en-us-liquid.ogg

Word forms

liquid liquids more liquid most liquid

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wleykʷ- Proto-Indo-European *wlikʷ-éh₁-ye-ti Proto-Italic *wlikʷēō Latin liqueō Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-der. Proto-Italic *-iðos Latin -idus Latin liquidusbor. Old French liquidebor. Middle English liquide English liquid From Middle English liquide, from Old French liquide, from Latin liquidus (“fluid, liquid, moist”), from liqueō (“to be liquid, be fluid”). Doublet of liquidus. As a term for a consonant, it comes from Latin liquida (cōnsōnāns), a calque of Ancient Greek ὑγρὸν (σύμφωνον) (hugròn (súmphōnon), “liquid consonant”).

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.