[1875–80; ‹ Gk pēl(ós) clay, earth + -ite1]This word is first recorded in the period 1875–80. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Diaspora, cross-fertilization, graph, massage, weekender-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)