Vaporisation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process where a liquid turns into a vapor when heated or when pressure drops
2. Changing a substance from its liquid state into a gaseous state by heating or reducing pressure
3. The transformation of a liquid into vapor, commonly due to heat application or pressure decrease

Etymology: Vaporisation is a plain, technical formation: English took "vapor" from Latin "vapor", a word for steam or exhalation, and then attached the suffix "-isation". That suffix has a longer trail. It comes from Greek "-izein", which Latin turned into "-izare" and which passed into English through Old French "-iser" and Middle French "-iser". The Latin "-tio" ending, which marks a noun of action, reached English through Old French "-acion" and Middle English "-acioun", and became the modern "-ation". Joined to "-ise", that produced "-isation". The word thus gathers pieces from several languages: a Latin noun for vapour, a Greek verb-maker, and French routes for both. None of these parts was built to describe a physical process. Each contributed a grammatical job, and the English noun simply assembles them into a name for the change of a liquid into vapour.

Synonyms: evaporation, gasification

Antonyms: condensation