cuprite

American  

[kyoo-prahyt, koo-] / ˈkju praɪt, ˈku- /

noun

1. a mineral, cuprous oxide, Cu 2 O, occurring in red crystals and brown to black granular masses: an ore of copper.

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cuprite British  

/ ˈkjuːpraɪt /

noun

1. a red secondary mineral consisting of cuprous oxide in cubic crystalline form: a source of copper. Formula: Cu 2 O

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Etymology

Origin of cuprite

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cuprite

There are six copper minerals mentioned in this sentence, and from our study of Agricola's De Natura Fossilium we hazard the following:—Proprius ei color insederit,—"its own colour,"—probably cuprite or "ruby copper."

From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Georgius Agricola

The minerals associated with the quartz in this vein, especially the cuprite and mispickel, are found most abundantly upon the foot-wall side, or underside of the quartz itself.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 79, May, 1864 by Various

Faces of a pentagonal icositetrahedron with high indices have been very rarely observed on crystals of cuprite, potassium chloride and ammonium chloride, but none of these are circular polarizing.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 7 "Crocoite" to "Cuba" by Various

The oxide group of minerals—including the copper carbonates, azurite and malachite; the silicate, chrysocolla; the oxide, cuprite; the sulphates, chalcanthite and brochantite; and some native copper associated with these minerals—probably supplies another 5 per cent.

From The Economic Aspect of Geology by C. K. (Charles Kenneth) Leith

The etching figures do not, however, conform to this lower degree of symmetry, nor do crystals of cuprite rotate the plane of polarization of plane-polarized light.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 8 "Cube" to "Daguerre, Louis" by Various