stone-forming
|stone-form-ing|
🇺🇸
/ˈstoʊnˌfɔrmɪŋ/
🇬🇧
/ˈstəʊnˌfɔːmɪŋ/
(stone-form)
forms stones
Etymology
'stone-forming' originates from Modern English as a compound of 'stone' and the present-participle form of 'form'; 'stone' comes from Old English 'stān', and 'form' ultimately from Latin 'forma' via Old French.
'stone' changed from Old English 'stān' (from Proto-Germanic '*stainaz') and 'form' entered English via Middle English from Old French 'forme' (from Latin 'forma'); the compound 'stone-forming' is a relatively recent English formation combining these elements to describe the tendency to produce stones.
Initially, 'stone' simply referred to a hard mineral lump and 'form' meant 'shape' or 'make'; over time the compound came to mean 'causing or tending to produce calculi (stones) in biological contexts'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a process or agent that forms stones (used as a noun in technical or medical contexts, e.g., 'a stone-forming process').
Researchers studied the stone-forming mechanisms in the patient's urine.
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Adjective 1
tending to produce or cause stones (calculi) in the body, especially in organs such as the kidney or gallbladder; lithogenic.
A stone-forming condition can increase the risk of kidney stones.
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Last updated: 2025/10/17 20:15