Earth & SkyGreek → English
Chalcopyrite
/ˌkælkəˈpaɪraɪt/noun
A brassy yellow sulphide of copper and iron, the main ore from which copper is mined.
The Greek roots
χαλκός
khalkós
copper, bronze
πυρίτης
pyrítēs
of fire, firestone
Literally: “copper firestone”
The story of the word
πυρίτης λίθος was the fire stone, the mineral you struck to get a spark, and pyrite still carries the name. Adding χαλκός marked the version with copper in it. That first root also gives the Chalcolithic, the copper-and-stone centuries between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, when smiths were working native metal before anyone thought to alloy it with tin.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
pyritechalcolithicpyrepyromania
In a sentence
The tailings glitter with chalcopyrite that was too poor to process at the time.
Chalcopyrite tarnishes to peacock blues and purples within weeks of being split.