The term kitae (kanji: 鍛え) means "forge" in English. It is written きたえ in hiragana. It's pronounced roughly like "key-tah-eh".
The verb kitaeru (鍛える) means to forge. Two steps in the Japanese sword making process are agekitae (上鍛え) and shitakitae (下鍛え). Those kanji in the front mean, respectively, up (or above) and down (or below). Shita can be used in the sense of “beforehand,” as in the word shitajunbi (下準備), which means preparation. More commonly, kitaeru means to build up, especially one’s body for athletic purposes; or to train one’s self in a certain art or skill.