Desilic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Describing a material, rock, or soil from which silica or silicon compounds have been largely removed
2. Having little or no silica content, as a result of leaching, chemical treatment, or natural weathering
3. Stripped of silicon dioxide, so that the substance no longer contains its usual proportion of silica

Etymology: "Desilic" is a technical formation from three parts: the Latin prefix "de-", meaning "away from" or "removal of," the stem "silic-", and the adjectival ending "-ic." Together they describe something from which silica has been removed, or something depleted of it. The stem comes from silica, the name for silicon dioxide, which takes its name from the Latin "silex," meaning flint. Flint is a hard, glassy form of silica, so the chain runs from a stone that was knapped into tools to a precise chemical term.