is it less permeable to water so it prevents it from entering the cell?
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A hypotonic environment in one in which the conentration of solutes is less than the concentration of water. If you place an animal cell in a hypertonic solution, water will move from where it is more concentrated (outside of the cell) to where it is less concentrated (inside of the cell). Therefore, water will move into the cell, causing it to swell and lyse. Prokaryotes (such as bacteria), plants, and fungi have cell walls that prevent the excessive uptake of water. If you place a plant or bacterial cell in a hypotonic environment, like an animal cell, it will swell. However, the elastic cell wall will expand only so much before it exerts a back pressure on the cell, preventing the further uptake of water. In the case of plant cells, this state is described as turgid (or firm), which is a healthy condition for most plant cells.