Convects

Part of speech: verb, third-person singular

Definitions

1. To transfer heat or energy through a fluid, allowing movement due to differences in density
2. to circulate a fluid by heating it, resulting in cooler areas becoming heated
3. the process through which thermal energy is conveyed via a flowing medium

Etymology: "Convects" is the third-person singular present form of "convect," a verb meaning to carry heat through a fluid by the movement of the fluid itself. The verb is a back-formation from "convection," the noun that came first. That noun is the older and more firmly documented word, so the verb is best understood as the noun's offshoot: English speakers took "convection" and treated it as if it had been built from a verb, then derived a verb from it. Back-formation of this kind is a common way for English to create verbs from nouns ending in "-tion," so that "convect" follows the pattern of similar pairs. The "-s" ending on "convects" is simply the regular present-tense marking for a third-person singular subject, as in "heat convects upward."

Synonyms: transfers, circulates, moves, conveys, transports