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calcite

American

[kal-sahyt] / ˈkæl saɪt /

noun

one of the commonest minerals, calcium carbonate, CaCO 3 , found in a great variety of crystalline forms: a major constituent of limestone, marble, and chalk; calc-spar.

calcite British

/ ˈkælsaɪt, kælˈsɪtɪk /

noun

a colourless or white mineral (occasionally tinged with impurities), found in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, in veins, in limestone, and in stalagmites and stalactites. It is used in the manufacture of cement, plaster, paint, glass, and fertilizer. Composition: calcium carbonate. Formula: CaCO 3 . Crystal structure: hexagonal (rhombohedral)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

calcite Scientific

/ kăl′sīt′ /

A usually white, clear, pale-yellow or blue orthorhombic mineral. Calcite occurs in many different forms and is the main component of chalk, limestone, and marble. It is a polymorph of aragonite. Chemical formula: CaCO ₃ .

Other Word Forms

calcitic

adjective

Etymology

Origin of calcite

First recorded in 1840–50; calc- + -ite ¹

Compare meaning

How does calcite compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

aragonite vs. calcite

Vocabulary lists containing calcite

Rocks and Minerals - Middle School and High School

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The article "U-Pb calcite age dating of fossil eggshell as an accurate deep time geochronometer" was published in Communications Earth & Environment.

From Science Daily • Dec. 21, 2025

“I was in the studio one day, working on this piece of honeycomb calcite, and I just went numb,” she recalls.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 23, 2024

Deciphering the chemical composition of each individual page—each thin, calcite layer—gives scientists a diary of the seawater through which the animal journeyed as it built its shell.

From National Geographic • Aug. 23, 2023

It’s a desolate alluvial fan on the southern flanks of the Cady Mountains, where sparkling calcite crystals and pieces of quartz, jasper and agate are continually carried down the slopes by thunderstorms and flash floods.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 16, 2023

Recently a few large isolated crystals with the form of icositetrahedra have been found with calcite and albite in a gold-vein on Frossnitz-Alpe in the Gross-Venediger, Tirol.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7 "Equation" to "Ethics" by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023