Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A silvery white or pale green aluminum silicate mineral, Al2Si4O10(OH)2, occurring naturally in soft compact masses.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A hydrated aluminium silicate, occurring in foliated talc-like subtransparent masses having a white, green, or yellow color and pearly luster.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Min.) A mineral, usually of a white or greenish color and pearly luster, consisting chiefly of the hydrous silicate of alumina.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun mineralogy A soft, pale aluminosilicate mineral, somewhat resembling talc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a white or greenish aluminum silicate mineral (resembles talc)

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • The name pyrophyllite comes from the Greek words pyr meaning fire and phyllon meaning leaf, a reference to the fact that it flakes when heated.

    Talc 2008

  • The name pyrophyllite comes from the Greek words pyr meaning fire and phyllon meaning leaf, a reference to the fact that it flakes when heated.

    Featured Articles - Encyclopedia of Earth 2010

  • Chinese “soapstone” carvings are carved from fine-grained pyrophyllite.

    Talc 2008

  • All the pyrophyllite produced in the United States is mined in North Carolina.

    Talc 2008

  • There are numerous talc and pyrophyllite resources worldwide.

    Talc 2008

  • Two different minerals with similar physical properties are talc and pyrophyllite.

    Talc 2008

  • Despite the volume of talc/pyrophyllite produced domestically, some is imported from China, Canada, Japan, and other countries.

    Talc 2008

  • The United States produces enough talc and pyrophyllite to meet its annual needs.

    Talc 2008

  • Minerals that could be used to replace feldspar include pyrophyllite, clays, talc, and feldspar-silica (quartz) mixtures.

    Feldspar 2008

  • The available reserves of talc are sufficient for many decades to come so such substitutions are not necessary, though they may be cost-effective depending on the relative costs of talc, mica, pyrophyllite and kaolin.

    Talc 2008

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