Earth & SkyGreek → English
Actinolite
/ækˈtɪnəlaɪt/noun
A green amphibole mineral that grows in slender radiating crystals, one of the forms of asbestos.
The Greek roots
ἀκτίς
aktís
ray, beam of light
λίθος
líthos
stone
Literally: “ray stone”
The story of the word
Richard Kirwan named it in 1794 for the way its needles fan out from a point, like spokes or beams. The same ἀκτίς gives actinium, the element named for its rays, and the actinic light that burns photographic film. Actinolite has a quieter twin in this batch: nephrite jade is a compact felted mass of actinolite and tremolite fibres, which is why jade is so hard to break.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 1794
Same family
actiniumactinicmonolithlithography
In a sentence
Under the lens the actinolite showed as a spray of green needles across the rock face.