transmutation

noun

Etymology: Late 14th century, from Old French transmutacion (“transformation, metamorphosis”), from Late Latin transmutationem, from Latin transmutare (“to change”).

1. Change, alteration.
2. The conversion of one thing into something else; transformation.

   “Up I rose and forth I fared: / Took my plunge within the bath-pool, pacified the watch-dog scared, / Saw proceed the transmutation—Jura's black to one gold glow, […]”

3. The conversion of one thing into something else; transformation.

   “The transmutation of metals was secondary to the main aim, which was the spiritual transformation of the adept.”

4. The conversion of one thing into something else; transformation.

   “Years later, scientists learned that the sun’s light—visible and invisible—is merely the by-product of a process alchemists had vainly tried to reproduce for centuries—the transmutation of one element into another. That nature accomplishes this before our very eyes, and that it is what creates the solar heat and light that supports all life, was suspected by no one. The revelation came as a complete surprise.”