heat-treated
|heat-treat-ed|
/ˈhiːtˌtriːt/
(heat-treat)
apply heat to change (material properties)
Etymology
'heat-treated' is a modern English compound formed from 'heat' + the past participle 'treated' of the verb 'treat'. 'heat' comes from Old English 'hǣtu' (meaning 'heat, warmth'), and 'treat' comes via Old French 'traiter' from Latin 'tractare' (a frequentative of 'trahere', 'to pull/handle').
'heat-treated' developed in Modern English by compounding the noun/verb 'heat' with the past participle of 'treat' (from Old French 'traiter' < Latin 'tractare'), yielding a descriptive past-participial adjective/verb phrase meaning 'having been treated by heat'.
Initially the components meant 'heat' and 'to handle/manage' (respectively); combined as 'heat-treated' the meaning became specifically 'subjected to a process of heating (a heat treatment) to alter properties', which has remained stable in technical usage.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Verb 1
past tense or past participle form of 'heat-treat' — to subject (something) to heat treatment.
They had heat-treated the gears before assembly to improve durability.
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Adjective 1
subjected to a controlled heating and cooling process (heat treatment) to change physical or mechanical properties (e.g., hardness, strength, ductility).
The heat-treated steel blades resisted wear better than untreated ones.
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Last updated: 2025/09/21 00:56