halite

American  

[hal-ahyt, hey-lahyt] / ˈhæl aɪt, ˈheɪ laɪt /

noun

1. a soft white or colorless mineral, sodium chloride, NaCl, occurring in cubic crystals with perfect cleavage; rock salt.

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halite British  

/ ˈhælaɪt /

noun

1. Also called: rock salt.  a colourless or white mineral sometimes tinted by impurities, found in beds as an evaporite. It is used to produce common salt and chlorine. Composition: sodium chloride. Formula: NaCl. Crystal structure: cubic

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halite Scientific  

/ hăl′īt′,hā′līt′ /

1. A colorless or white mineral occurring as cubic crystals. Halite is found in dried lakebeds in arid climates and is used as table salt. Chemical formula: NaCl.

2. See more at salt

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Etymology

Origin of halite

First recorded in 1865–70; hal- + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

We drove past the Devil’s Golf Course, a jagged expanse of halite salt-crystal formations.

From Washington Post • Nov. 23, 2016

A mineral is a naturally occurring combination of specific elements that are arranged in a particular repeating three-dimensional structure or lattice.1 The mineral halite is shown as an example in Figure 1.4.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

Examples of minerals are feldspar, quartz, mica, halite, calcite, and amphibole.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

Discovery of abundant cellulose microfibers encased in 250 Ma Permian halite: a macromolecular target in the search for life on other planets, Astrobiology, 8:1–14.

From Forbes • Jan. 1, 2014

Common salt constitutes the mineral halite, the composition of which is sodium chloride.

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