What does "calthemite" mean?

Any secondary calcareous deposit, created by the action of water outside the natural cave environment. They are typically found on man made structures and mimic the shapes and forms of cave speleothems, such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone etc.

Calthemite

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Any secondary calcareous deposit, created by the action of water outside the natural cave environment. They are typically found on man made structures and mimic the shapes and forms of cave speleothems, such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone etc.

Etymology

From Latin calx (“lime”) + Latin < Ancient Greek θέμα (théma, “what is laid down”), (also Mediaeval Latin thema, "deposit") and the Latin -īta < Ancient Greek -ίτης (-ítēs) – used as a suffix indicating a rock or mineral.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.