hydrophilhydrophileadj.

1903 Electrician 30 Oct. 42/1 He applied two electrodes.., contact being made by means of hydrophil cotton impregnated with a 1 per cent solution of zinc chloride.

1915 W. W. Taylor Chem. Colloids i. 7 The term lyophile has been applied to those systems in which there is marked affinity between the phases, and lyophobe to the others. When water is the dispersion medium the terms hydrophile and hydrophobe are commonly used.

1930 J. Alexander Colloid Chem., an Introd. (ed. 3) iii. 39 Colloids of the reversible type are..said to be hydrophile or lyophile, while the irreversible colloids are hydrophobe or lyophobe.

1963 A. J. Hall Student's Handbk. Textile Sci. i. 10 Synthetic fibres are made from organic hydrophobic (water-repellent) polymers—the natural fibres are hydrophile (water-attractive).

1963 A. J. Hall Student's Handbk. Textile Sci. i. 13 The hydrophile fibre wool..contains about 18% of moisture in its ordinary air-dry state.

1971 Nature 12 Feb. 489/2 The outer walls of the respiratory trumpets of mosquito pupae are hydrophil while the inner lining is hydrophuge.