sewage

The word 'sewage' is a relatively modern English formation from the mid-19th century. It is built upon the older word 'sewer', which originally referred to an artificial channel for draining water or waste. The core morpheme 'sew-' traces back to the Latin verb exaquāre, meaning "to drain out water", a compound of ex- ("out") and aqua ("water"). The suffix '-age' was appended to form a noun denoting the collective matter or substance conveyed by a sewer. Thus, the literal logic of the word is "the condition or result of that which is drained out with water," precisely describing its modern meaning as waste matter carried in drains.

Structure: sew (drain) + age (noun suffix) sew (from Old French sewe, seu, meaning "a drain, sluice from a pond", from Latin exaquāre "to drain out water", from ex- "out" + aqua "water"); age (a noun-forming suffix of French/Latin origin, indicating a collective result or condition).