Absorption
/əbˈzɔːrp.ʃən/noun
The process of taking in and incorporating a substance, light, energy, or information.
Did you know?The verb behind absorption, Latin *absorbere*, literally meant “to swallow up,” and it comes from the same root as *sorb* words tied to drinking and sucking in.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*serbʰ-
“To suck, sip, or swallow up”
Latin
Latin
sorbere
“To suck in, swallow, sip”
Latin
Latin
absorbere
“To swallow up completely”
Late Latin
Latin
absorptionem
“A swallowing up; act of absorbing”
Middle French
Old French
absorption
“Absorption, consumption, swallowing up”
Modern English
English
absorption
“The act or process of absorbing or being absorbed”