Sorbite

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Pearlite. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "According to Boynton this constituent is sorbite in the case of steels containing more than ·8 per cent. carbon, for if troostite be β iron free from carbon it cannot exist in hyper-eutectoid steels."

  2. 2
    Sorbitol. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "Sorbite is isomeric with mannite and dulcite, and forms with oxalic acid at 75° sorbite-formamide, with evolution of carbonic anhydride. It is a colourless odourless syrup."

Example

More examples

"According to Boynton this constituent is sorbite in the case of steels containing more than ·8 per cent. carbon, for if troostite be β iron free from carbon it cannot exist in hyper-eutectoid steels."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Sorby (“a surname”) + -ite, after Henry Clifton Sorby.

Etymology 2

From sorb + -ite.

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