Erosion

Pronunciation

• US IPA: əˈroʊˌʒən
• RP IPA: əˈrəʊˌʒən

Origin

From Middle French erosion, from Latin erosio ("eating away"), derived from erodere.

The first known occurrence in English was in the 1541 translation by Robert Copland of Guy de Chauliac's medical text The Questyonary of Cyrurygens. Copland used erosion to describe how ulcers developed in the mouth. By 1774 'erosion' was used outside medical subjects. Oliver Goldsmith employed the term in the more contemporary geological context, in his book Natural History, with the quote

"Bounds are thus put to the erosion of the earth by water."

Full definition of erosion

Noun

1. (uncountable) The result of having been being worn away or eroded, as by a glacier on rock or the sea on a cliff face.
• 2012, George Monbiot, Guardian Weekly, August 24, p.20Even second-generation biofuels, made from crop wastes or wood, are an environmental disaster, either extending the cultivated area or removing the straw and stovers which protect the soil from erosion and keep carbon and nutrients in the ground.
2. (uncountable) The changing of a surface by mechanical action, friction, thermal expansion contraction, or impact.
3. (uncountable) Destruction by abrasive action of fluids.
4. (mathematics, image processing) One of two fundamental operations in morphological image processing from which all other morphological operations are derived.
5. (dentistry) Loss of tooth enamel due to non-bacteriogenic chemical processes.
6. (medicine) A shallow ulceration or lesion, usually involving skin or epithelial tissue.

Derived terms

• erosive
• erosional
• sheet erosion
• splash erosion