etch

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛt͡ʃ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛtʃ

Etymology 1

From Dutch etsen (“to etch”), from German ätzen (“to etch”), from Old High German azzon (“to cause to bite or feed”), from Proto-Germanic *atjaną, causative of *etaną (“to eat”) (whence also English eat).

Verb

etch (third-person singular simple present etches, present participle etching, simple past and past participle etched)

1. To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also used for decoration on metal, and, in modern industry, to make circuit boards.
2. To engrave a surface.
3. (figuratively) To make a lasting impression.

   The memory of 9/11 is etched into my mind.

4. To sketch; to delineate.
   • a. 1705, John Locke, “Of the Conduct of the Understanding”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC:

     There are many such empty terms to be found in some learned writers, to which they had recourse to etch out their system.

Derived terms

• piranha etch
• self-etch
• total-etch

 

Related terms

• etchant
• etching

 

Translations

to engrave

• Bulgarian: гравирам (bg) (graviram)
• Catalan: gravar (ca)
• Danish: indgravere
• Finnish: kaivertaa (fi), etsata (fi)
• French: graver (fr)
• German: radieren (de), ätzen (de), beizen (de)
• Hungarian: marat (hu), gravíroz (hu)
• Italian: incidere all'acquaforte
• Korean: 새기다 (ko) (saegida)
• Macedonian: вреже pf (vreže)
• Polish: ryć (pl), wytrawiać impf, wytrawić pf
• Portuguese: gravar (pt)
• Russian: гравирова́ть (ru) impf (gravirovátʹ), вы́гравировать (ru) pf (výgravirovatʹ), трави́ть (ru) impf (travítʹ), вытра́вливать (ru) impf (vytrávlivatʹ), вы́травить (ru) pf (výtravitʹ)
• Spanish: grabar (es)
• Ukrainian: гравіювати (hravijuvaty), травити (travyty) (поверхню металу кислотою), витравлювати (vytravljuvaty)

to make a lasting impression

• Catalan: gravar (ca)
• Danish: gøre indtryk
• Finnish: syöpyä mieleen
• French: marquer (fr), graver (fr)
• German: einbrennen (de), einprägen (de)
• Macedonian: вреже pf (vreže)
• Portuguese: marcar (pt)
• Spanish: grabar (es)

Etymology 2

Noun

etch

1. Obsolete form of eddish.
   • 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708, →OCLC:

     Black Oats are commonly sown upon an Etch Crop, or on a Lay which they plow up in January, when the Earth is moist, taking care to turn the Turf well, and to lay it even and flat.

Anagrams

• Chet, Tech., chet, echt, hect-, tech