ate

Ate is the simple past tense of the verb eat in English. It is used to describe the act of consuming food in the past, as in She ate lunch early. Eat has the irregular past tense ate and the past participle eaten, which contrasts with regular verbs that add -ed for past forms.

Etymology and usage: The verb eat comes from Old English etan, and the modern past tense ate reflects historical changes in English verb forms. The word is common across dialects of English, with only minor regional variation in pronunciation. The form ate is not capitalized unless it starts a sentence or is part of a title.

In chemistry, the suffix -ate appears in the names of many chemical species. In inorganic chemistry, -ate denotes certain polyatomic anions derived from oxyacids, such as sulfate (SO4^2−), nitrate (NO3^−), and phosphate (PO4^3−). In this context, -ate forms are often contrasted with -ite, which indicates one fewer oxygen atom in the related ion. In organic and biochemistry, the suffix also occurs in the names of salts or esters of acids, for example acetate, which is the salt or ester of acetic acid.

As an acronym, ATE can represent various terms in different fields. A common usage is Automatic Test Equipment, referring to systems that test electronic devices during manufacturing and maintenance. Because acronyms vary by domain, the meaning of ATE is context-dependent and may require clarification in interdisciplinary communication.

In summary, ate primarily denotes a grammatical form in English and appears as a productive suffix in chemical nomenclature, as well as an acronym in technical contexts.