calcined vs. calcinated

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>I'm pretty sure calcined is the correct form, but calcinated comes up
>quite a bit. I personally have made this mistake a number of times, and
>Google gives 130,000 hits for it as well. I make this mistake because I
>generally see the term "calcination" in my bilingual dictionary and form
>the adjective without bothering to view the verb form calcine.

I don't remember encountering "calcinate" myself. However I don't see
"calcine" that often either, these days.

Google Books gives hundreds of examples of "calcinated" including (at
a glance) many respectable modern chemical/technical examples --
although outnumbered about 9 to 1 by "calcined".

MW3 shows both verbs.

There are many comparable pairs, I guess:

"illumination" ~ "illumine", "illuminate";

"orientation" ~ "orient", "orientate";

"termination" ~ "termine" [obsolete?], "terminate";

"determination" ~ "determine", "determinate" [uncommon?];

"conversation' ~ "converse", "conversate" [controversial?];

etc.

-- Doug Wilson


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