Other forms: solvents
A solvent is the liquid that does the dissolving. Stir sugar into tea and the tea is the solvent; the sugar is the thing that disappears into it. Water is the solvent doing most of the work on this planet.
Outside the chemistry lesson, solvent names the strong-smelling liquids that shift what water cannot: paint solvent, nail-varnish remover, the white spirit in the shed. There is a second meaning in money, and it is nothing to do with liquids: a company is solvent when it has enough to pay everything it owes, and insolvent when it does not. That sense goes with businesses, banks and estates, not with a person who feels well off. The pair to learn is solvent and solute — the solvent dissolves, the solute is dissolved, and together they make a solution.
1nounsolventThe liquid in which another substance dissolves.~54%
“Water is the most common solvent in the natural world.”
technical in this meaning — an editor’s judgement
2nounstrongA strong liquid chemical used to dissolve grease, paint or glue.~23%
“Use a solvent on the label glue, not a knife.”
technical in this meaning — an editor’s judgement
3adjectiveenoughHaving enough money to pay everything you owe.~23%
“The company stayed solvent through two bad winters.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 22 sentences found in the wild and placed 22 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
solvent is a liquid.
Solvent came into English from French, from Latin solventem, the present participle of the verb solvō. A present participle names the thing doing the action, which is why the solvent is the liquid doing the work and never the powder that vanishes into it. The same word covers money, where a solvent business is one that can still clear what it owes.
Latin
solventem
French
solvent
English, today
solvent
From French solvent, from Latin solventem, accusative singular of solvens, present participle of solvō. by surface analysis, solv(e) + solve + ent.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA