etch

Etymology 1

From Dutch etsen (“to etch”), from German ätzen (“to etch”), from Old High German azzon (“to cause to bite or feed”), from Proto-Germanic *atjaną, causative of *etaną (“to eat”) (whence also English eat).

verb

1. To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also used for decoration on metal, and, in modern industry, to make circuit boards.
2. To engrave a surface.
3. (figurative) To make a lasting impression.
   The memory of 9/11 is etched into my mind.
4. To sketch; to delineate.
   There are many such empty terms to be found in some learned writers, to which they had recourse to etch out their system.

Etymology 2

noun

1. Obsolete form of eddish.