Today's word is: 細密化
Let's break it down:
- 細密【さいみつ】 minuteness
- Alternate translations and real-world usage: closely; closer; minutely; minute; elaborate; detailed; fine; close; exact; precise
- 化 【か】 (suffix) -ization; -ification
My first impulse was to translate 細密化 as
miniaturization, which of course is incorrect. The translation I saw was
subdivided as in "thickener* was subdivided" (増ちょう剤を細密化)
Needless to say, this translation was difficult for me to understand. My understanding of this grease product was that the thickener was modified to improve its dispersibility within the base oil, thus helping the grease to disperse more evenly within the bearing, which helps improve bearing durability, wear resistance, and helps reduce grease related noise. In the end, I retranslated the phrase 「増ちょう剤を細密化」as "improve thickener dispersibility."
I might be wrong, but some Japanese engineers tend to take a noun, such as 細密, and add the suffix 化 to create a new term. In my experience, this habit of adding 化 to a noun to create a new word is a sign of intellectual laziness, intellectual arrogance, or outright ignorance.
* thickener refers to component that is mixed with a base oil to form a grease that is used in bearing grease (i.e. ball bearing grease; roller bearing grease; etc.)
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