Cindered

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To have experienced a transformation by being subjected to high heat, leading to charred remains or a reduced state
2. Reduced to a brittle, coal-like form through exposure to intense heat
3. Changed into a hard, darkened residue after being burned or heated strongly

Etymology: "Cindered" is simply the past tense and past participle of "cinder," so its story is really the story of the noun. Old English had "sinder," meaning dross, slag, or the scum thrown off when metal is smelted, a sense that has nothing to do with the hearth fire we now picture. The word belongs to a family found across northern Europe: Dutch "sintel," German "Sinter," and Swedish "sinder" all describe slag or scale from a forge. Its ancestors reach back to a Proto-Indo-European root for a coagulating liquid, which points to molten material cooling into crusty lumps. The familiar spelling with a "c" is a later accident. Middle English writers began spelling it "cinder," and the French word "cendre," meaning ashes, which is unrelated, influenced that change. "Sinter," the German and English term for a mineral deposit formed by heat or pressure, is a doublet of the same word, so the two have split off into separate meanings from a single source.

Synonyms: charred, burned, scorched, singed, ash

Antonyms: intact, unburned, whole, unscathed, complete