Onzuivere

Onzuivere is a Dutch adjective meaning not pure or not clean. It is used to describe substances, environments, or conditions that contain contaminants or impurities, making them deviate from an ideal pure state. The term can apply to liquids, gases, solids, or mixtures, as well as to non-physical concepts such as information, motives, or evidence when they are considered unreliable or incomplete.

Etymology and form: onzuivere is formed from the negating prefix on- added to zuiver, meaning pure. The base word zuiver comes from older Dutch and has cognates in related Germanic languages. The related adjective onzuiver can be used in attributive position (onzuiver water) or predicatively (water is onzuiver).

Contexts and usage: In science and industry, onzuivere substances require purification to reach the desired purity level, for example through filtration, distillation, crystallization, or chemical purification. In everyday language, onzuivere can describe anything that falls short of cleanliness or purity, such as onzuiver water, onzuiver air, or onzuiver signals or information when accuracy is in doubt. Metaphorically, one might speak of onzuivere motieven or onzuivere bronnen to signal questionable integrity or reliability.

See also: zuiver, zuivere toestand, zuiveringsprocessen, impurity, purification.

---