The process of forming or developing a cortex, which is the outer layer of an organ or structure like the brain or kidney.
From Latin 'cortex' (bark, rind) plus the present participle suffix '-ating.' The word emerged in anatomical terminology in the 19th century to describe the biological process of cortical formation.
Your brain's cortex literally means 'bark'—scientists named it that because the gray matter covering your brain looks like tree bark wrapped around the white matter inside, showing how much medieval anatomists thought in agricultural metaphors!
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