The quality or ability of a material to soak up and hold liquids or other substances.
From absorb (Latin absorbere: ab- 'away' + sorbere 'to suck in') + -ency (suffix forming nouns of state or quality). The suffix -ency emerged from Latin -entia and Old French -ence.
Paper towels are marketed by their absorbency ratings because companies discovered consumers care more about how much liquid a towel holds than its size—it's pure applied physics meeting consumer psychology.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.