Earth & SkyGreek → English
Monazite
/ˈmɒnəzaɪt/noun
A reddish-brown phosphate mineral of cerium and other rare earths, the main commercial source of thorium.
The Greek roots
μονάζω
monázō
to be solitary
μόνος
mónos
alone, single
Literally: “the solitary one”
The story of the word
Breithaupt named it in 1829 because the crystals turned up singly rather than in clusters. The name aged badly: monazite sand is now dredged by the shipload from beaches in India, Brazil and Australia. Its thorium content makes it mildly radioactive, and its uranium and lead make it one of geology's best clocks for dating rocks.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
monkmonasterymonopolymonotone
In a sentence
The heavy mineral fraction was almost entirely zircon and monazite.
Monazite dating put the metamorphism at 1.8 billion years.