a hard, readily cut and polished rubber, obtained by vulcanizing rubber with a large amount of sulfur, used in the manufacture of combs and buttons and for electric insulation; vulcanite
Word origin
[1860–65; ebon(y) + -ite1]This word is first recorded in the period 1860–65. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: blind spot, calibrate, metric system, monism, raider-ite is a suffix of nouns denoting esp. persons associated with a place, tribe, leader,doctrine, system, etc. (Campbellite; Israelite; laborite); minerals and fossils (ammonite; anthracite); explosives (cordite; dynamite); chemical compounds, esp. salts of acids whose names end in -ous (phosphite; sulfite); pharmaceutical and commercial products (vulcanite); a member or component of a part of the body (somite)