Cauterise

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Closes or destroys tissue, typically to stop bleeding or prevent infection, by applying heat or a caustic substance
2. Uses heat or chemicals to burn a wound’s edges to halt bleeding and inhibit germs
3. Applies thermal or chemical burning to flesh to seal injuries and avoid contamination

Etymology: The verb "cauterise" carries a branding iron inside it. In ancient Greek, "kautēr" meant a branding iron, and the verb "kautēriazō" meant to brand, the act of pressing a hot metal instrument onto a wound. The root is "kaiō," "to burn," which also gives us words like "caustic" through a separate route. The Greek physicians who used the technique treated bleeding and rotting flesh by searing it closed, and the practice was so closely tied to the tool that the word named the burning itself rather than the iron. The word passed into Late Latin as "cauterizō," still meaning to burn with a hot iron, and from there into Middle French as "cauteriser." English took the term from that French form, and the spelling "cauterize" with a z follows the Latin model, while the "cauterise" spelling used in British English follows the French ending.

Synonyms: burn, sear, scorch

Antonyms: heal, mend