collophane

American

[kol-uh-fayn] / ˈkɒl əˌfeɪn /

Also collophanite

noun

Mineralogy.

a massive, cryptocrystalline variety of apatite that is the principal component of phosphate rock and fossil bone.

1915–20; < German Kollophan, equivalent to Greek koll(a) glue + -o- -o- + -phan -phane ( def. )

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