an alloy of iron and nickel, occurring in meteorites
Word origin
C19: from (obsolete) German Kamacit, from Greek kamax shaft, pole + -ite1
kamacite in American English
(ˈkæməˌsait)
noun
a nickel-iron alloy found in meteorites
Word origin
[1885–90; ‹ G (obs.) Kamacit ‹ Gk kamak- (s. of kámax) pole + G -it-ite1]This word is first recorded in the period 1885–90. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: booster, foregut, reactor, roller coaster, toner-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)
Examples of 'kamacite' in a sentence
kamacite
The diamonds contain a number of nanometre-scale flaws, chiefly specks of iron-rich sulphides such as troilite and kamacite.