Aridification

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process by which a region becomes progressively drier and less able to support vegetation or agriculture
2. A gradual change in climate that leads to decreased moisture availability and increased dryness in an environment
3. The phenomenon characterized by the transformation of lands or ecosystems into arid conditions, often as a result of natural or human-induced factors

Etymology: Aridification is a plain formation rather than a story with a famous coiner: it is simply the English word "arid" with the suffix "-ification" attached, the same pattern that gives "classification" from "classify" or "simplification" from "simplify." The suffix itself travelled a long route. It descends from Latin "-ificatio," a noun ending built on verbs ending in "-ificare," meaning "to make" something. Old French took up the form as "-ification," and English adopted it in the Middle English period, after which it became a productive way to turn adjectives and nouns into words describing a process. The base word has its own pedigree. "Arid" was borrowed from Latin "aridus," meaning dry, which came from "arere," to be dry, and it entered English through French "aride." So the word combines a Latin adjective of dryness with a suffix whose own Latin ancestor was built on the idea of making or becoming.

Synonyms: drying, desiccation, dehydration, drought, desertification

Antonyms: hydration, moistening, wetting, irrigation, saturation