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stalactite.

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

10 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈstælæktaɪt/Received-Pronunciation/-lək-/Received-Pronunciation/stəˈlæktaɪt/Received-Pronunciation/stəˈlækˌtaɪt/General-American
  1. A secondary mineral deposit of calcium carbonate or another mineral, in shapes similar to icicles, that hangs from the roof of a cave.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Ancient Greek σταλάσσειν (stalássein) Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τός (-tós) Ancient Greek σταλακτός (stalaktós) Proto-Indo-European *-tósder. Ancient Greek -της (-tēs)der. Ancient Greek -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs)der. New Latin -ītēs New Latin stalactītēsbor. English stalactite From New Latin stalactītēs, 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).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.