Sanguinite

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A rare mineral species, identified by mineralogists and collectors as a distinct naturally occurring crystalline substance
2. The name given to a rare naturally occurring mineral recognized in geological and mineralogical classification
3. An uncommon crystalline mineral found in certain geological settings and catalogued as a separate species

Etymology: Sanguinite is a mineral name built on the Latin "sanguineus," meaning "of blood" or "blood-red," which itself comes from "sanguis," blood. The name describes the stone's colour, the way many mineral names describe a visible feature. The ending "-ite" is the standard suffix of mineral names. It comes from the Greek "-ites," meaning "belonging to" or "connected with," and it marks the name as a label for a mineral species rather than an everyday word. So the whole name amounts to "the blood-red mineral," a deliberate descriptive coinage in the language of modern mineralogy.