the.com/laminate
Wood's ambitious cousin: looks the part, panics near water.
means To bond thin layers together (or coat something in plastic) to make it stronger, shinier, or waterproof — the material version of faking it till you make it.
from From Latin 'lamina,' meaning a thin plate, sheet, or layer — the same root behind 'lamella' in biology. 'Laminate' entered English in the 1600s–1700s as a verb meaning to beat or roll metal into thin sheets, and only later expanded to mean layering any thin sheets together, including the wood veneers and plastic coatings we know today.
- made of
- compressed layers fused under heat and pressure
- durability
- scratch-resistant but swells if soaked
- origin
- popularized in 1920s as Formica countertops
- honesty
- never claims to be real wood