Permutated

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Changed the order of a set of elements in every possible way or a specific rearrangement
2. Modified the sequence of items by altering their positions according to a rule or pattern
3. Produced different arrangements of components by shifting their order systematically

Etymology: "Permutated" is the past tense and past participle of "permutate," a back-formation from "permutation." The older verb "permute" came first, borrowed from Latin "permutare," meaning "to change thoroughly" or "to exchange," built from "per-" (through, thoroughly) and "mutare" (to change). Latin "mutare" is also the root of "mutation" and "commute," so the same idea of exchanging one thing for another runs through the family. English speakers formed "permutate" by taking "permutation" and removing its noun ending, a pattern that yields many verbs from nouns, such as "orientate" from "orientation." The "-ate" form is often criticised by usage writers as an unnecessary variant of "permute," though it is in common use, especially in mathematics and computing, where the sense of rearranging items in a set by a fixed rule is central. In that setting "permutated" describes a sequence that has already been rearranged.