Caustic comes from Latin causticus, from Greek kaustikos ('capable of burning'), from kaiein ('to burn'). The historical trail runs through kaustikos in Ancient Greek and kaiein in Ancient Greek. Used as an adjective and noun, caustic now means "capable of burning or corroding; bitingly sarcastic", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as caustically and causticity and related forms such as cauterize, holocaust, and encaustic. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.