Demineralises

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To remove mineral content from a substance, typically by chemical or physical processes that extract salts or minerals; to reduce the hardness or strength of a material by eliminating its mineral components; to cause a loss of essential inorganic elements from a medium such as water or biological tissue
2. The act of extracting inorganic minerals from an object or medium, often to purify or soften it; the process by which minerals are leached out, decreasing the overall mineral density; chemically or physically reducing mineral presence to weaken structural or chemical integrity
3. The procedure of stripping away mineral deposits from substances, usually to alter their composition or usability; a method of diminishing mineral concentration to improve quality or functionality; inducing a depletion of mineral matter from natural or synthetic materials through various means

Etymology: "Demineralises" is the third-person singular present form of "demineralise", a verb meaning to remove the mineral content from something, such as water or soil. It is built from the prefix "de-", meaning "down from" or "removal of", attached to "mineralise", so the verb reads literally as "take the minerals out of." The base verb "mineralise" comes from "mineral", which entered English from medieval Latin "minerale", a noun for something dug out of a mine. The "-ise" ending is the familiar verb-forming suffix, so "mineralise" means to turn something into a mineral or to impregnate it with minerals. Adding "de-" reverses that process, giving a verb for stripping those substances away.