Etymology and Historical Context

It's the Word of the Day podcast for july third . Today's word is Carrod speelled C O R O D E, Corrode is a verb. Corrode means to slowly break apart and destroy metal, an object, etc through a chemical process, or to undergo such a process. It's also used as a synonym of the word undermine to mean to gradually destroy or weaken. Here's the word used in a sentence from Southern Living. Each piece is made of durable steel with a powder coating that won't rust, fade, or corrode in the weather. Corrode comes from the Latin verb Corrodore , meaning to gnaw or chew up. Corotoray in turn combines the prefix core c , used here as an intensifier with the meaning of completely and the verb rotoray, meaning to gnaw . You may recognize another rotoray descendant, the word rodent as a word for members of an order of gnaw happy mammals . At one time corrode was used to literally indicate the action of gnawing away , as in woodworms corroded the wood , but it is the more figurative senses from the action of gnawing or eating away that have persisted as in salt water corroded the iron or a lack of transparency by local officials is corroding public trust. With your Word of the Day, I'm Peter Sakalowski . Visit MarianWebster. com today for definitions , wordplay, and trending word lookups.