prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2013-07-22 07:12 am

psammitic

psammitic (sa-MIT-ik) - adj., of, pertaining to, or resembling sandstone.


An all-but-obsolete geologic term -- arenaceous is more commonly used today. The two form a good pair otherwise, as they are from the Greek and Latin, respectively, words for sand: psámmos and harēna. The former was coined from the Greek root in the 1880s, while the latter was adopted in the 1640s from harēnāceus, sandy. I think we can all agree, though, that psammitic is the better word.

---L.

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