digested

Digested is the past participle of the verb digest and functions as an adjective to describe matter that has undergone digestion or, more broadly, the process of breaking something down into simpler components. In everyday usage, something described as digested has been processed to a more usable or understandable form.

Etymology and usage: The term derives from the Latin digerere, passing into English through Old French as digérer. In English, digest has long carried both the sense of chemical or biological breakdown and the figurative sense of summarizing or organizing information, with digested used to mark that completion of the process.

Scientific and technical uses: In biology and medicine, digested refers to tissues or substances subjected to chemical or enzymatic breakdown, such as digested food in the gastrointestinal tract or a tissue sample digested to release cells for analysis. In nutrition, the digested portion of a meal is the fraction that has been enzymatically broken down and absorbed. In data or text analysis, digested can describe information that has been processed into a concise or summarized form.

In publishing and media, digested may appear as a descriptive label for summaries, digests, or abridged editions that present core content in a condensed format. While used in this sense, there is no single work universally recognized by the title Digested.

See also: Digest, Digestion, Digestive system, Digest (disambiguation).