Wood preservation a long-practised method and often used in today's carpentry workshops. Technological developments mean it is also possible to spray preservative over the surface of the timber. Some of the liquid is drawn into the wood as the result of capillary action before the spray runs off or evaporates, but unless puddling occurs penetration is limited and may not be suitable for long-term weathering. By using the spray method, coal-tar creosote, oil-borne solutions and water-borne salts (to some extent) can also be applied. A thorough brush or spray treatment with coal-tar creosote can add 1 to 3 years to the lifespan
English words of Greek origin "bacterium" < βακτήριον 'stick (diminutive)' is a kind of microorganism rather than a small stick or staff. This also applies to combining forms used in neologisms: "-cyte" or "cyto-" < κύτος 'container' means biological cells, not arbitrary containers; "-oma" < -ωμα, a generic morpheme forming deverbal nouns such as "diploma" 'a folded thing' and "glaucoma" 'greyness', comes to have the very narrow meaning of 'tumor' or 'swelling', on the model of words like "carcinoma" < καρκίνωμα. For example, "melanoma" does not come from Greek μελάνωμα 'blackness', but rather from the modern combining forms "melano-" 'dark (in biology)' + "-oma" 'tumor'.