a mineral, antimony oxysulfide, Sb2S2O, occurring usually in tufts of red capillary crystals
Word origin
[1835–45; kermes + -ite1]This word is first recorded in the period 1835–45. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: basic, cutaway, daisy chain, ecumenical, hybridize-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)