calcite

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: cal=cite

CIDE DICTIONARY

calcite, n. [L. calx, calcis, lime.].

 Calcium carbonate, or carbonate of lime. It is rhombohedral in its crystallization, and thus distinguished from aragonite. It includes common limestone, chalk, and marble. Called also calc-spar and calcareous spar.  [1913 Webster]
" Argentine is a pearly lamellar variety; aphrite is foliated or chalklike; dogtooth spar, a form in acute rhombohedral or scalenohedral crystals; calc-sinter and calc-tufa are lose or porous varieties formed in caverns or wet grounds from calcareous deposits; agaric mineral is a soft, white friable variety of similar origin; stalaclite and stalagmite are varieties formed from the drillings in caverns. Iceland spar is a transparent variety, exhibiting the strong double refraction of the species, and hence is called doubly refracting spar."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

calcite, n. natural crystalline calcium carbonate.

Etymology

G Calcit f. L CALX lime