maceration (n.)

late 15c., "act or process of making lean or thin," from Latin macerationem (nominative maceratio) "a steeping, soaking; a making soft or tender," noun of action from past-participle stem of macerare "to make soft or tender; soften by steeping or soaking;" in transferred sense "to weaken" in body or mind, "to waste away, enervate" (see macerate). Meaning "act or process of almost dissolving by steeping in a fluid" is from 1610s.