Epidotes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of mineral characterized by its greenish color and commonly used in the study of geology and mineralogy
2. A crystalline silicate mineral often found in metamorphic rock formations and valued for its unique properties
3. A specific group of minerals that can indicate high-pressure conditions during geological processes

Etymology: Epidote is the name of a mineral, and "epidotes" is simply its plural, used when speaking of several specimens or varieties of the mineral. The name was borrowed from French, where "épidote" was the mineral's label, and English took it over unchanged. The French form itself comes from Greek roots, and the choice of name points to what mineralogists noticed about the stone: its crystals often have a distinctive pistachio-green tint. The mineral's name is built to reflect its crystal structure rather than its color alone. Its Greek-derived pieces suggest "addition" or "increase," a nod to the way the crystal's shape is characterized by an extra-long, angled form. Mineral names of this kind were typically coined by French and German scientists in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when mineralogy was establishing its systematic vocabulary, so the word is a technical coinage rather than an ancient one.

Synonyms: epidote