Mercerize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The technique entails chemically treating cotton textiles with a caustic solution to increase their sheen and durability
2. A specific chemical process is applied to cotton fabric using sodium hydroxide to boost its softness and dye uptake
3. This method involves applying a caustic soda solution to cotton to enhance its luster, strength, and dye receptive qualities

Etymology: John Mercer was a calico printer and chemist from Great Harwood in Lancashire, and he discovered the process that bears his name in the mid-19th century. While experimenting with cotton, he found that soaking the fibre in a strong caustic soda solution made it swell, shrink and take on a silky lustre, and that it then absorbed dye more readily. The process was named after him, and the verb "mercerize" grew from that name. The verb is formed from "Mercer", the surname, plus the suffix "-ize", which turns a noun into a verb meaning to treat or process in a certain way. So the word records a person's name attached to a technique, a pattern common in English terms named after inventors, such as "galvanize" and "macadamize" (the latter also honouring a person, John Loudon McAdam).