corrosive (adj.)

late 14c., "to eat away, diminish or disintegrate (something) by gradually separating small bits of it," from Old French corroder (14c.) and directly from Latin corrodere "to gnaw to bits, wear away," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see com-), + rodere "to gnaw" (see rodent). Figurative use from 1630s. Related: Corroded; corroding.