means The gradual breaking down of rocks, soil, and minerals through contact with the atmosphere, water, and living things — or, more loosely, the act of enduring something rough and coming out the other side.

from From "weather," rooted in Old English "weder," meaning air, sky, or storm — a cousin of Dutch "weder" and German "Wetter," and likely tied to an ancient root for "wind" or "blowing." The verb sense of "to weather" something — to expose it to the elements, then later to survive them — grew naturally from the noun, since whatever stood out in the open got worn down or toughened up. The geological meaning is a 19th-century specialization, when scientists borrowed the everyday word for the patient work of rain, frost, and wind on stone.