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Glite Dictionary
🔥 To burn to charcoal ⚙️ To add carbon
to carbonize

to carbonize

1 7.2
To turn wood or other organic material into carbon by very high heat
  • verb
  • /ˈkɑrbəˌnaɪz/
  • Specialized
translation icon : carbonizar
  • The archaeologist discovered ancient pottery that had carbonized after a fire.
  • carbonized wood

Examples

  • Wood, paper, and cellulose quickly carbonize in the ground.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • You need energy to grow and carbonize seaweed, so it's essentially the same thing.

    Blog text (28)

  • The color black is produced from the carbonized roots of manioc.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Vestiges of carbonized grain, chickpeas, and beans were discovered in Jolia.

  • After a one-hour survey, all we've found are a few pieces of carbonized wood under the overhang and two small, round depressions on a fallen boulder the size of a refrigerator.

    Academic text (2008)

  • When exposed to high heat, the wood will carbonize and turn into charcoal.

  • If you cook the meat too long, it will carbonize and become inedible.

Synonyms

to pyrolyze
vsto carbonize
  • Specialized
9.9

To heat a material without air so it breaks into gas, liquid, or solid parts

is the process that chars material leaving solid carbon residue after heating or burning

How Carbonized

to carbonize
  • Specialized
1 7.2
to scorch
20 3.5
to heat
298 1.0

Surface Forms

carbonize infinitive
carbonized past
carbonized past participle
carbonizing present participle
carbonizes third person singular

Morphology

carbonize = carbon (transparent) = carbon + ize

Productive verb formation from the noun 'carbon' with the suffix '-ize' yields the straightforward meaning 'to make or become carbon/char'.

Etymology

Carbonize comes from carbon, a word that originally meant 'charcoal' or 'coal', the black stuff left after burning. So to carbonize something is to 'turn it into charcoal' or char it by heat.