To decompose is to break down into simpler parts, especially when dead plants or animals rot and return to the environment.
It combines “de-,” meaning “down” or “apart,” with “compose,” from Latin “componere,” “to put together.” So to decompose is literally to “un-put-together.”
Decomposition looks like destruction, but it’s actually construction for something else. Nature constantly decomposes old material to build new life, so rot and growth are two sides of the same process.
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