Earth & SkyGreek → English
Stalagmite
/stəˈlæɡmaɪt/noun
A mineral column rising from a cave floor where water has dripped and evaporated.
The Greek roots
σταλαγμός
stalagmós
a dripping, a drop
Literally: “drop-formed one”
Follow a root:σταλαγμός1 word
The story of the word
Stalactite and stalagmite come from one Greek verb, σταλάσσω, to drip, which threw off two nouns: σταλακτός, dripping, and σταλαγμός, the drop that has landed. The single letter of difference is therefore a statement about direction, not a spelling quirk. Cave guides teach the pair with mnemonics about tights and the ground; Greek had the distinction built in.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Modern Latin → English
- First recorded
- 1680s
Same family
stalactitespeleothem
In a sentence
A stalagmite the height of a man had grown under the crack in the roof.
They dated the climate record from a sawn stalagmite.