ˈwettable, a.
[f. wet v.]
Admitting of being wetted.
| 1885 H. O. Forbes Nat. Wand. E. Archip. 484 His only wettable garment being his loin-cloth. 1903 W. R. Fisher tr. Schimper's Plant-Geogr. iii. i. 225 The foliage in a constantly humid climate is as a rule easily wettable. 1955 [see captan]. 1976 McGraw-Hill Yearbk. Sci. & Technol. 208/2 Spraying the wettable powder or flowable formulation results in distribution patterns that are particulate in form rather than lamellar. |
Hence wettaˈbility, the property of being wettable; the degree to which something may be wetted (wet v. 1 b).
| 1913 Chem. Abstr. VII. 3441 The wetting of glass by different pairs of liquids was investigated with special reference to the effect of prolonged wetting upon the ‘wetability’. 1933 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. XXV. 329 The ‘wettability’ of the particle in water. 1973 Nature 2 Mar. 14/1 The wettability of leaf surfaces is influenced by the fine structure and chemical composition of the wax. 1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants xi. 379 Larrea affects the water relations of the soil surrounding the plants, reducing soil wettability. |