To turn into chalk or cretaceous material; to transform or convert something into a chalk-like substance.
From Latin creta (chalk) plus the verb-forming suffix -ify, meaning 'to make or cause to become.' Created in medieval scientific Latin.
The suffix -ify is incredibly productive in English—we use it to create verbs constantly (clarify, simplify, solidify)—and cretify shows how medieval scholars used it to describe geological transformations.
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