Anodizes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To coat a metal surface, especially aluminum, with a protective oxide layer by an electrolytic process to increase corrosion resistance and surface hardness
2. To undergo an electrochemical treatment that forms a durable oxide film on a metal, enhancing its durability and appearance
3. To treat a metal by passing an electric current through it in an electrolyte to create an oxide coating that improves wear resistance and prevents rusting

Etymology: The verb "anodizes" is the third-person singular form of "anodize," which means to coat a metal, usually aluminium, with a protective oxide layer by passing an electric current through it in an acid bath. The metal piece is made the positive electrode, or anode, and the oxygen released at its surface thickens the natural oxide film on the metal. The word is a plain compound built from "anode" and the suffix "-ize." "Anode" comes from the Greek "anodos," meaning "way up" or "ascent," formed from "ana" (up) and "hodos" (way); Michael Faraday coined it in the 1830s for the electrode where current leaves an electrolytic cell, the path the current was thought to climb. The suffix "-ize" comes through Late Latin "-izare" from Greek "-izein," used to form verbs meaning "to make into" or "to treat with." Joining the two gave English a verb for treating metal at an anode, a technical coinage that took shape in the twentieth century alongside the industrial process it names.

Synonyms: oxidizes, coats, plates