schist
/ʃɪst/ noun
Forms schists
- noun Any of a variety of coarse-grained crystalline metamorphic rocks with a foliated structure that allows easy division into slabs or slates.
Etymology
From French schiste, from Latin schistos lapis (“the stone that is easy to split”), from Ancient Greek σχιστός (skhistós, “splittable”), from σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any crystalline rock having a foliated structure (see Foliation) and hence admitting of ready division into slabs or slates. The common kinds are mica schist, and hornblendic schist, consisting chiefly of quartz with mica or hornblende and often feldspar.
Etymology [Gr. schiste. See Schism.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “schist”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details