porphyry

Dec. 15th, 2011 07:28 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
porphyry (PAWR-fuh-ree) - n., a hard igneous rock consisting of large crystals in a fine-grained matrix; esp., a porphyritic rock quarried in Egypt with a purple-red groundmass and small crystals of feldspar.


The specific stone (a type of andesite) is the original meaning: the ultimate root is Greek pórphyros, purple. From there, it was borrowed by Latin, and them by English in the 14th century.

---L.

January 2026

S M T W T F S
     1 23
4 5 6 7 8910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jan. 8th, 2026 04:08 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios