Agatized

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The process by which organic materials are transformed into a stone resembling agate through mineralization occurs over time
2. A condition in which substances are converted into a mineral form that imitates agate through natural processes takes place
3. The transformation of organic material into a mineralized form that resembles agate occurs through geological processes over time

Etymology: "Agatized" is the past tense of "agatize," a verb built from "agate" and the suffix "-ize." The suffix passed into English through Middle French and Late Latin from Ancient Greek "-izein," which turned a noun into a verb meaning "to make into, to cause to become." So the verb means to turn something into agate, or to convert material into an agate-like form, and "agatized" describes the result of that change. The base word "agate" is older and more concrete. It names the banded chalcedony stone, and English took it from Latin "achates," which came from Greek "achátēs," the name of a stone found near the Achates river in Sicily. Read this way, the verb is simply a tool for describing a process: wood or bone that has been replaced by silica takes on the look of agate, and geologists use "agatized" for such material.