corrosive

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English corosif,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French corosif, also corrosif,^[4][5][6][7] from Medieval Latin corrōsīvus,^[5][6][2][3] from Latin corrōsus (“gnawed through”), the past participle of corrōdō (“to gnaw to pieces”),^[5][8] the source of corrode.^[8] The Latin verb is formed from com-, here perhaps intensive, and rōdō (“to gnaw”),^[7][8] the source of rodent.^[7] The Anglo-Norman adjective is recorded from the third quarter of the 13th century.^[9] The OED explains that the stress was first on the third syllable and later on the first, so that the second vowel was obscured and finally lost, giving the old form corsive; since the 17th century the Latin spelling has restored it.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Eating away by chemical action, of acids and the like: about 1386, in Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's Tale.^[4] Etymonline dates the word to the late 14th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In medieval surgery the word described diseases that ate away tissue and caustic remedies that burned it (about 1400, in Lanfranc's Cirurgie).^[4] The noun, a corrosive substance, appears in alchemy in 1471 (Ripley),^[4] and in medicine about 1400.^[4] The figurative sense, "destructive" or "fretting the mind", dates from 1581,^[4] when a short-lived verb to corrosive, to vex or distress, was also in use (to 1642).^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "having the power of consuming or wearing away" and noted that it was once stressed on the first syllable.^[10] Today it is also used of sharp, sarcastic remarks.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1386 – eating away by chemical action.^[4]
• c. 1400 – of diseases and remedies, eating away living tissue; noun, a caustic drug.^[4]
• 1471 – noun, a corrosive substance such as an acid.^[4]
• 1581 – figurative, destructive, or fretting the mind.^[4]
• 1581–1642 – verb, to fret or vex (obsolete).^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Able to destroy or wear away a material by chemical action: a corrosive acid.^[11][2][4]
2. Weakening or destroying something gradually: the corrosive effect of rumour on trust.^[11][2][4]
3. Sarcastic or cutting: a corrosive wit.^[11]

Noun

1. A substance that corrodes, such as a strong acid or alkali.^[11][2][4]
2. Something that weakens or destroys gradually.^[2][4]

Word family

• corrosively
• corrosiveness
• noncorrosive
• corrosive sublimate

Related words

• corrode
• corrosion
• rodent
• erode

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins