Monoclinic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to a crystallographic system that has three axes with one being vertical while the other two intersect at angles that are not right angles
2. Having to do with a type of crystal structure characterized by three axes, where one is oriented vertically and the other two meet at oblique angles
3. Pertaining to a crystal system defined by the arrangement of three axes, one perpendicular and the other two at varied angles

Etymology: Crystallographers needed a name for a crystal shape that looks tilted, and they built it from Greek pieces: "mono-", meaning "single" or "one", from "mónos", and "clinic", which traces back through Late Latin "clinicus" to the Ancient Greek "klīnē", a bed or couch. The idea behind "klīnō", the verb it grows from, is leaning or inclining, so the root sense is something set at a slant. The word is therefore a compound of "mono-" and "clinic", meaning that one of its axes stands upright while the other two lean against each other at oblique angles. Its "clinic" element is the same one that appears in English "clinic" and "clinical", which entered the language through French and Late Latin. In "monoclinic" the Greek sense of inclining survives, even though most English speakers meet the "clinic" part only in medical settings.