pitted

The word 'pitted' is the participial adjective form of the verb 'to pit'. Its core, 'pit', originates from the Old English 'pytt', denoting a natural or man-made hole in the ground, a sense which persists today. The adjectival suffix '-ed' is one of the most common in English, used to form adjectives meaning "having" or "characterized by". Therefore, 'pitted' literally means "having pits", a logic which directly extends from physical holes to metaphorical ones like small scars on skin or indentations on a surface, and further to the culinary sense of having the central stone (or "pit") removed from a fruit.

Structure: pit (noun/verb) + ed (adjective suffix) 'pit' (from Old English 'pytt', meaning a hole or cavity, of West Germanic origin; functions as the core noun/verb root). 'ed' (from Old English '-ed', '-od', '-ad', a suffix forming adjectives from nouns or verbs; functions as a participial/adjectival suffix indicating possession of a quality or result of an action).