: a very hard fine-grained siliceous rock used for whetstones and possibly of sedimentary origin
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebThe Quapaw and Caddo peoples lived here for thousands of years, mining the region’s ubiquitous novaculite, a type of flint stone, for weapons.Washington Post, 7 Feb. 2020
Word History
Etymology
Latin novāculum "razor" (from novā- —going back to earlier *ksneu̯ā- "scrape smooth, sharpen"— + -culum, instrumental suffix, going back to *-tlom) + -ite entry 1; *ksneu̯ā-, probably derivative of an Indo-European adjective *ksneu̯͟-o- "scraped smooth," from a verbal base *ksneu̯- "scrape (until sharp or smooth)" (whence, with ablaut variation, Sanskrit kṣṇáuti "(s/he) whets, sharpens," kṣṇutáḥ "sharpened," kṣṇótram "whetstone," Avestan hu-xšnutō "well-sharpened"), iterative derivative of *kseu̯-, whence Greek xýō, xeîn "to shave, smooth"