Third person singular present tense of 'etch'; to carve or bite lines into a surface using acid or another corrosive substance.
From Dutch 'etsen' meaning to bite, referring to how acid 'bites' into metal. The term entered English in the 1600s as the etching technique became popular among European artists.
When acid etches metal, it's literally a chemical reaction eating away at the surface—the word 'etch' comes from the Dutch word meaning 'bite,' which perfectly describes what happens when acid meets metal!
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