Oolith

//ˈəʊəlɪθ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A spherical granule of which oolite is composed, formed by concentric accretion of thin layers of a mineral (usually calcium carbonate (limestone) but also others such as dolomite and silica) around a core; an ooid.
  2. 2
    Oolite. rare

Synonyms

All synonyms
ooidooidoolite

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin oolithus; the Latin word was coined by the German doctor and mineralogist Franz Ernst Brückmann (1697–1753) as a translation of German Rogenstein (“oolite”) (Rogen (“fish roe”) + Stein (“stone”)). Oolithus is derived from Ancient Greek ᾠόν (ōión, “egg; seed”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to clothe oneself, dress; to be dressed”), in the sense of a bird being clothed in feathers) + λῐ́θος (lĭ́thos, “a stone; stone as a substance”) (see further at that entry), analysable as oo- + -lith.

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