anti-scalants
|an-ti-scal-ants|
/ˌæntiˈskeɪlənts/
(anti-scalant)
against scale (mineral deposits)
Etymology
'anti-scalant' originates from Modern English, formed from the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti-' meaning 'against') and 'scalant', a technical formation from 'scale' + the suffix '-ant' (from Latin/French) where 'scale' refers to mineral scale (hard deposit).
'anti-' comes from Greek 'anti' ('against'); the noun/adjectival suffix '-ant' derives from Latin via Old French; 'scale' (sense of a mineral deposit) developed in English from earlier words for shells/flakes and came to mean hard deposits on surfaces. The compound 'anti-scalant' was created in 20th-century technical/water-treatment vocabulary and entered wider technical use thereafter.
Initially coined to mean 'a substance acting against scale (deposits)', it has retained that technical meaning in modern usage for water-treatment and industrial contexts.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
chemical substances added to water (e.g., in boilers, cooling systems, or reverse-osmosis feed) to prevent or reduce the formation and deposition of mineral scale on surfaces.
Anti-scalants are commonly dosed into reverse-osmosis feed water to prevent scale formation on membrane surfaces.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/28 12:12