fermentation

English

Etymology

From Middle English fermentacioun, from Latin fermentātiō, fermentātiōnem.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˌfɜː(ɹ)mənˈteɪʃən/, /ˌfɜː(ɹ)mɛnˈteɪʃən/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

fermentation (countable and uncountable, plural fermentations)

  1. (biochemistry) Any of many anaerobic biochemical reactions in which an enzyme (or several enzymes produced by a microorganism) catalyses the conversion of one substance into another; especially the conversion (using yeast) of sugars to alcohol or acetic acid with the evolution of carbon dioxide
  2. A state of agitation or excitement; a ferment.
    • 1678, Jeremy Taylor, “The History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: […]. The First Part.”, in Antiquitates Christianæ: Or, the History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus: […], London: […] E. Flesher, and R. Norton, for R[ichard] Royston, […], →OCLC, ad section IX (Considerations upon the Baptizing, Fasting, and Temptation of the Holy Jesus by the Devil), discourse IV (Of Baptism), part II (Of Baptizing Infants), page 130:
      [T]he Grace that is then given to us is like a piece of Leven put into a lump of dough, and Faith and Repentance do in all the periods of our life put it into fermentation and activity.
    • 1852 January – 1853 April, Charles Kingsley, Jun., “Preface”, in Hypatia: Or, New Foes with an Old Face. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […], published 1853, →OCLC, pages xi–xii:
      The universal fusion of races, languages, and customs, which had gone on for four centuries under Roman rule, had produced a corresponding fusion of creeds, an universal fermentation of human thought and faith.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fermentātiōnem.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /fɛʁ.mɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/
  • Audio(file)

Noun

fermentation f (plural fermentations)

  1. fermentation

Derived terms

Descendants
  • → Romanian: fermentație
  • → Turkish: fermantasyon

Further reading
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