stalactite

English

Etymology

A group of stalactites in Brazil.

From New Latin stalactites, from Ancient Greek σταλακτός (stalaktós, “dripping; dropping”) + Latin -ītēs (suffix with the sense ‘belonging to’ forming adjectives) (modelled after the names of stones ending in -ites). Σταλακτός (Stalaktós) is derived from σταλάσσειν (stalássein, “to drip; to let (something) drip”) + -τός (-tós, suffix forming adjectives denoting possibility from verbs).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈstælæktaɪt/, /-lək-/, /stəˈlæktaɪt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /stəˈlækˌtaɪt/, /ˈstæləkˌtaɪt/
• Hyphenation: sta‧lac‧tite

Noun

stalactite (plural stalactites)

1. (geology) A secondary mineral deposit of calcium carbonate or another mineral, in shapes similar to icicles, that hangs from the roof of a cave.

   Coordinate term: stalagmite

   • 1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXXIII, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American Publishing Company, →OCLC:

     In one place, near at hand, a stalagmite had been slowly growing up from the ground for ages, builded by the water-drip from a stalactite overhead.

Derived terms

• snottite
• stalactical
• stalactic

Related terms

• calthemite
• speleothem

Translations

mineral deposit hanging from the roof of a cave

• Armenian: շթաքար (hy) (štʻakʻar)
• Belarusian: сталакты́т m (stalaktýt), сталякты́т m (staljaktýt)
• Bulgarian: сталакти́т m (stalaktít)
• Catalan: estalactita (ca) f, caramell (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鐘乳石／钟乳石 (zh) (zhōngrǔshí)

• Czech: stalaktit m
• Dutch: druipsteenpegel m, druipsteen (nl) m
• Esperanto: stalaktito
• Faroese: dropasteinur m
• Finnish: tippukivipuikko, stalaktiitti (fi)
• French: stalactite (fr) f
• Georgian: სტალაქტიტი (sṭalakṭiṭi)
• German: Stalaktit (de) m
• Greek: σταλακτίτης (el) m (stalaktítis)
• Hebrew: נָטִיף (he) m (natíf)
• Hungarian: sztalaktit (hu)
• Icelandic: dropasteinn m
• Irish: aolchuisne m
• Italian: stalattite (it) f
• Japanese: 鍾乳石 (ja) (しょうにゅうせき, shōnyūseki)
• Korean: 종유석(鐘乳石) (ko) (jong'yuseok)
• Latvian: stalaktīts m
• Maori: keoiri
• Polish: sopleniec m, stalaktyt (pl) m
• Portuguese: estalactite f
• Russian: сталакти́т (ru) m (stalaktít)
• Slovak: stalaktit m
• Slovene: stalaktit m
• Spanish: estalactita (es) f
• Swedish: stalaktit (sv) c
• Tagalog: estalaktita, tulumbato
• Thai: หินย้อย (th) (hǐn-yɔ́ɔi)
• Turkish: sarkıt (tr), damla taş (tr), stalaktit (tr)
• Ukrainian: сталакти́т m (stalaktýt)
• Vietnamese: thạch nhũ (vi)

Further reading

• stalactite on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

des stalactites

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin stalactites, from Ancient Greek σταλακτός (stalaktós).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sta.lak.tit/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

stalactite f (plural stalactites)

1. (geology) stalactite

   Antonym: stalagmite

2. icicle

Further reading

• “stalactite”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.