Corrosion

How to spell corrosion

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce corrosion

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does corrosion mean?

1. nounThe gradual destruction of metal or other material through chemical reaction, especially rusting.

Corrosion in a sentence

• The old bridge was closed because corrosion had weakened its steel supports.

• A protective coat of paint slows the corrosion of the iron railings.

Where does corrosion come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin verb corrodere, which meant 'to gnaw thoroughly' or 'to gnaw away'. It was built from the prefix com-, here acting as an intensifier meaning 'completely', joined to rodere, 'to gnaw', the same root that gives us 'rodent' for a gnawing animal. The Romans pictured rust and decay quite vividly as something slowly eating into metal, and that image of a substance being nibbled to nothing is exactly what the word still conveys. English took it in through the Late Latin noun corrosio and Old French during the late Middle Ages, settling into its modern technical sense of metal being eaten away by chemical reaction. The doubled 'r' is the spelling trap, and it survives because the original com- prefix assimilated its 'm' into the 'r' of rodere, leaving 'cor-' followed by the gnawing root; remembering the 'rodent' connection helps fix that single 'd'-free 'ros' spelling in mind.

How the word is built

• cor- (intensive form of com-, 'thoroughly')
• ros (from Latin rodere, 'to gnaw')
• -ion (noun suffix, 'the action or result')