efflorescence

English edit

Borrowed from French efflorescence, from Latin efflōrēscō, which was from ex- (“out”) +‎ flōrēscō (“to blossom”).

efflorescence (countable and uncountable, plural efflorescences)

(chemistry) The formation of a powdery surface on crystals, as a hydrate is converted to anhydrous form by losing loosely bound water of crystallization to the atmosphere.
(botany) The production of flowers.
(construction) An encrustation of soluble salts, commonly white, deposited on the surface of stone, brick, plaster, or mortar; usually caused by free alkalies leached from mortar or adjacent concrete as moisture moves through it.
(geology) An encrustation of soluble salts, deposited on rock or soil by evaporation; often found in arid or geothermal environments.
(figurative) Rapid flowering of a culture or civilisation etc.
- 2015, Heidi Nast, “Pit Bulls, Slavery, and Whiteness in the Mid- to Late-Nineteenth-Century U.S.”, in Rosemary-Claire Collard, Kathryn Gillespie, editors, Critical Animal Geographies, page 138:
  1919, a time when African American hopes for a just future following their service in World War I were dashed by violent reassertions of white supremacy, including the efflorescence and expansion of the KKK into the Midwestern and northwestern U.S.
- 2022 August 29, Michelle Goldberg, “The Book That Explains Our Cultural Stagnation”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:
  I’d hoped that when the black hole of the Donald Trump presidency ended, redirected energy might allow for a cultural efflorescence. So far that hasn’t happened.
(pathology) A redness, rash, or eruption on the skin.

formation of a powdery surface

production of flowers

rapid flowering of a culture

eruption on the skin

Learned derivation from Latin efflōrēscere with the suffix -ence.^[1]

efflorescence f (plural efflorescences)

^ “efflorescence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
^ “efflorescence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.