stalactite
/stəˈlækˌtaɪt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.81 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "In one place, near at hand, a stalagmite had been slowly growing up from the ground for ages, builded by the water-drip from a stalactite overhead."
- "There is the Hang Ken cave with its waterfalls spilling into large lagoons, shimmering goldlike mineral deposits and soaring columns created over thousands of years when stalactites hanging from the cave roof met stalagmite formations building from the cave floor."
Etymology
Etymology tree Ancient Greek σταλάσσειν (stalássein) Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Hellenic *-tós Ancient Greek -τός (-tós) Ancient Greek σταλακτός (stalaktós) Proto-Indo-European *-tósder. Ancient Greek -της (-tēs)der. Ancient Greek -ῑ́της (-ī́tēs)der. New Latin -ītēs New Latin stalactītēsbor. English stalactite From New Latin stalactītēs, from Ancient Greek σταλακτός (stalaktós, “dripping; dropping”) + Latin -ītēs (suffix with the sense ‘belonging to’ forming adjectives) (modelled after the names of stones ending in -ites). Σταλακτός (Stalaktós) is derived from σταλάσσειν (stalássein, “to drip; to let (something) drip”) + -τός (-tós, suffix forming adjectives denoting possibility from verbs).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: stalactītēs, σταλακτός, -ītēs
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /stəˈlækˌtaɪt/
- British English: /ˈstælæktaɪt/