eau distillée
feminine
Distilled water in French is eau distillée.
eau distillée refers to water that has been purified through the process of distillation.
Meaning: water that has been purified by distillation (noun)
Which one should you use?
While eau distillée specifically describes water purified by distillation, you may encounter the term eau déminéralisée. This refers to demineralized water, which is often used in commercial contexts to describe water that has had minerals removed through other methods, such as ion exchange.
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun eau is feminine, which means the adjective distillée must agree by taking an extra e at the end.
Did you know?
- The word eau shares its ancient roots with the Old English word ēa, which means a 'river' or a 'flowing stream'.
- In a pharmacy or laboratory in France, requesting eau distillée will get you a specific purity grade different from the eau déminéralisée sold in supermarkets.
- The spelling of eau is somewhat counterintuitive, as it uses three vowels to represent a single simple sound.
Examples in context
- L'eau distillée n'a pas de goût.Distilled water has no taste.Tatoeba #7811041 by Aiji, translation #6014707 by AlanF_US
- Est-ce que l'eau distillée est potable ?Is distilled water drinkable?Tatoeba #5393745 by pititnatole, translation #5393740 by pititnatole
- J'utilise de l'eau distillée pour mon fer à repasser.I use distilled water for my iron.
Example conversation
In a science laboratory.
- GabrielEmma, as-tu de l'eau distillée ?Emma, do you have any distilled water?
- EmmaOui, elle est sur la table de Gabriel.Yes, it is on Gabriel's table.
- GabrielMerci, j'en ai besoin pour l'expérience.Thanks, I need it for the experiment.
- EmmaDe rien, fais attention avec les flacons.You're welcome, be careful with the flasks.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “distilled water” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries eau, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
