Eroded

How to spell eroded

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce eroded

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does eroded mean?

1. verbGradually wore away or destroyed something, especially by the slow action of water, wind, or time.

Eroded in a sentence

• Decades of heavy rain had eroded the soft sandstone cliff.

• Years of inflation slowly eroded the value of their pension.

Where does eroded come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin verb erodere, which combined the prefix e- (a form of ex-, meaning 'away' or 'out') with rodere, meaning 'to gnaw'. The literal picture, then, is of something being gnawed away little by little, which is exactly how wind, water and frost wear down rock and soil. The same rodere root gnaws its way into the everyday word 'rodent', the gnawing animal, and that family link is a handy way to remember the single 'd' in the middle of the stem. English took the verb 'erode' from French eroder or directly from the Latin in the seventeenth century, at first in medical and physical descriptions of surfaces being worn or eaten away. From there the meaning broadened into the modern figurative sense of gradual wearing down, as when confidence, savings or rights are slowly eaten into.

How the word is built

• e- (from ex-: away, out)
• rod (from Latin rodere: to gnaw)
• -ed (past-tense/participle suffix)