Word Study
calcite
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
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