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Added 3 October 2026

erosion

/ɪˈɹəʊʒən/ noun

Latin root: ērōsiō First recorded: 1541 Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about erosion at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The result of having been worn away or eroded, as by a glacier on rock or the sea on a cliff face.
The changing of a surface by mechanical action, friction, thermal expansion contraction, or impact.
The gradual loss of something as a result of an ongoing process.
the erosion of a person's trust

Origin

From Middle French erosion, from Latin ērōsiō (“eating away”), derived from ērōdō. 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."

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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