heat-treating
|heat-treat-ing|
/ˈhiːtˌtriːtɪŋ/
(heat-treat)
apply heat to change (material properties)
Etymology
'heat-treating' originates from Modern English as a compound of 'heat' and 'treat', where 'heat' comes from Old English 'hǣtu' meaning 'heat' and 'treat' ultimately comes from Old French 'traitier' (from Latin 'tractare') meaning 'to handle or manage'.
'heat' developed from Old English 'hǣtu' and related Proto-Germanic roots; 'treat' passed into English via Old French 'traitier' (from Latin 'tractare'). The verb form 'to heat-treat' arose in technical and industrial English (19th–20th century) and the gerund/noun form 'heat-treating' followed as a description of the process.
Initially the element combination simply meant 'to treat with heat'; over time it became specialized in industrial and metallurgical contexts to mean 'performing a controlled thermal process to alter material properties'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
an industrial or metallurgical process in which a material (typically metal) is heated to a specific temperature and then cooled in a controlled way to alter its physical or mechanical properties (for example hardness, strength, ductility, or toughness).
Heat-treating improves the hardness and wear resistance of the steel components.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Verb 1
to subject a material to a heat treatment; to apply controlled heating and cooling to change the material's properties.
They heat-treat the parts to increase fatigue resistance.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/09/21 01:18