Lixiviations

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of separating soluble constituents from insoluble material, often through the action of a solvent
2. the act of leaching substances from various materials using a liquid medium
3. a chemical procedure involving the extraction of beneficial components from ores, soils, or other materials through dissolution

Etymology: The process is named for ash. Latin "lixivium" meant water filtered through wood ash, the crude way people extracted alkali, or lye, for soap and washing. "Lixivium" comes from "lix," meaning ash or lye, and the adjective "lixivus" meant made with lye. The English word keeps that sense of pouring a liquid through a solid to draw out what it holds. "Lixiviation" is the noun for this action, built from the verb "lixiviate," which is formed on the Latin stem. Its meaning widened from alkali-making to any leaching, including the extraction of metals from ore and of soluble salts from soil. English "lye" is a separate word, from Old English "leag," and only happens to mean the same substance.