collophane

[ kol-uh-feyn ]

noun

, Mineralogy.

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of collophane¹

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