sicca-, sicc- +

(Latin: drying, dry; withered; arid)

desiccant (s) (noun) desiccants (pl)
1. A substance that promotes drying; for example, calcium oxide or silica gel, absorbs water and is used to remove moisture: Desiccants have a high affinity for moisture and they are used as drying agents.
2. A drying agent or a soluble, or insoluble, chemical substance that has such a great affinity for water that it will abstract water from many fluid materials: Henry was looking for a desiccant that loses or causes the loss of moisture.
desiccant (adjective), more desiccant, most desiccant
A descriptive term referring to something that dries or causes anything to be dry.
desiccate (DES i kayt") (verb), desiccates; desiccated, desiccating
1. To dry up; to preserve by drying or depriving of moisture; especially, to dry completely: The surgeon removed a suspect mole and thoroughly desiccated the tissue around that area with a needle electrode.
2. To preserve food by drying or dehydrating it: While baking a cake, Elizabeth used a cup of desiccated coconut.

It is a common practice to desiccate apricots.

3. Etymology: from Latin desiccare, "to dry up".
desiccated (adjective), more desiccated, most desiccated
1. A reference to something from which the water has been removed: The desiccated food products can last much longer than the same produce that has not been dried.

The market is offering some desiccated coconut for customers to try out.

The rain was very welcome because the desiccated land could not produce any crops without the needed moisture.

desiccation (s) (noun), desiccations (pl)
A process by which something becomes completely dry: The soil desiccation makes it much more difficult to raise crops.

The desiccation of so many farms has been causing severe financial losses for farmers.

desiccation breccia
A breccia or a rock composed of sharp-angled fragments embedded in a fine-grained matrix that are composed of dried fragments of a mud-cracked layer of sediment that were later deposited with other sediments.
disiccator (s), disiccators (pl) (noun forms)
A closed glass container with an airtight lid which contains a chemical to absorb moisture that is used for keeping materials free of moisture.
electrodesiccation (s), electrodesiccations (pl) (noun forms)
1. The diathermic destruction of small growths; such as, of the urinary bladder, skin, or cervix by means of a single needle-shaped terminal electrode with a small sparking distance: "The surgeon removed a suspect mole by electrodesiccation and thoroughly desiccated the immediately adjoining tissue with a needle electrode."
2. A technique in electrosurgery in which tissue is destroyed by burning with an electric spark.

It is used primarily for eliminating small superficial growths; however, it may be used with curettage to eradicate abnormal tissue deeper in the skin or to stop bleeding.

This procedure is performed under local anesthesia.

3. The destructive drying of cells and tissue by means of short high-frequency electric sparks, as opposed to fulguration, the destruction of tissue by means of long high-frequency electric sparks.

Among other applications, electrodesiccations are used for hemostasis (stopping the flow of blood) of very small capillaries or veins which have been severed (cut) during surgery.

exsiccate, exsiccates, exsiccated, exsiccating (verb forms)
1. To dry up, to deprive of moisture, or cause to dry up.
2. To lose or to cause something to lose moisture; such as, agricultural areas that are being deprived of sufficient water or rainfall.
exsiccation (s), exsiccations (pl) (noun forms)
1. That which is dried or from which moisture has evaporated or been expelled.
2. A state or condition of being dried up; dryness: "When he went out into the fields, he could see the results of the inadequacy of moisture which had resulted from a lack of rain."
exsiccative (adjective)
A reference to something that has been dried up or that which causes anything to become dry.
laryngitis sicca
Characterized by dryness and crusting of the mucous membrane of the larynx.
seborrhea sicca (s) (noun) (no pl)
A form of seborrheic dermatitis characterized by dry scaling: Stella's hands were becoming extremely dry and, after her dermatologist examined her skin, she was told that she had seborrhoea sicca, which caused the dryness of the skin to be itchy and to peel off.
siccant (adjective)
Having the capability of making something dry or a reference to a drying agent.
siccant, siccants, siccanted, siccanting (verb forms)
Drying or removing moisture from surrounding substances: "The lab technician was siccanting water from a substance so it would remain pure and undiluted."