DictionaryRoot: -atio
Latin

-atio

an action, process, or result

Forms

  • -atio
  • -ation- — Latin stem used outside the basic noun form.
  • -ation — Borrowed into English through French and Latin.

Origin

Latin -a-, associated with one class of verbs, plus the action-noun suffix -tio.

Note

The same formation can name either doing something or what the action produces.

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Show the literal skin-scraping sense: a woman seated beside a rough concrete step examines a fresh, shallow abrasion on her shin, with superficial scraped skin clearly visible and no graphic injury.
noun

excoriation

ik-skor-ee-AY-shun/ɪkˌskɔːriˈeɪʃn/

Scraping away or damaging the skin.

Etymology

The pieces describe stripping skin off, the literal basis of excoriation as skin damage. The figurative meaning turns that flaying into severe verbal criticism.

Full entry

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