Oolit

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tiny rounded particle of sediment, typically formed by the accumulation of mineral layers around a core grain
2. A diminutive spherical grain of sedimentary rock built up through successive coatings of mineral material
3. A small ball-shaped grain found in sedimentary deposits, created by the gradual layering of minerals around a central fragment

Etymology: Oolite is a compound of two Greek words: "oion," meaning egg, and "lithos," meaning stone. The name describes limestone made of many small rounded grains, each about the size of a fish egg, cemented together in concentric layers. Geologists coined it as a technical term, so the name was deliberately descriptive rather than inherited from ordinary speech. The term was then extended from the rock to the rock formations. English geologists used "Oolite" as the name of a series of Jurassic limestone beds in southern England, and some of those strata still carry the name, such as the Great Oolite. This is why the word appears in British place names and geological maps as well as in textbooks.