tetrahedrite

[ te-truh-hee-drahyt ]

noun

1. a steel-gray or blackish mineral with a brilliant metallic luster, essentially copper and antimony sulfide, (Cu, Fe, Zn, Ag,) 12 Sb 4 S 13 , an end member of a series of solid solutions into which arsenic enters to form tennantite: mined as an ore of copper and silver.

tetrahedrite

/ ˌtɛtrəˈhiːdraɪt /

noun

1. a grey metallic mineral consisting of a sulphide of copper, iron, and antimony, often in the form of tetrahedral crystals: it is a source of copper. Formula: (Cu,Fe) 12 Sb 4 S 13

Word History and Origins

Origin of tetrahedrite¹

1865–70; tetrahedr(on) + -ite ¹, modeled on German Tetraedrit

Example Sentences

Tetrahedrite, blende, diamond, boracite and pharmacosiderite are substances which crystallize in this class.

From Project Gutenberg

Tetrahedrite, the typical species, is composed of copper, sulphur, and antimony.

From Project Gutenberg

Fine crystals of large size have been found with quartz and chalybite in the mines at Neudorf in the Harz, and with blende and tetrahedrite at Kapnik-B�nya near Nagy-B�nya in Hungary.

From Project Gutenberg

In external form these crystals are cubic with inclined hemihedrism, the symmetry being the same as in blende and tetrahedrite.

From Project Gutenberg

Ores.—The principal ores of copper are the oxides cuprite and melaconite, the carbonates malachite and chessylite, the basic chloride atacamite, the silicate chrysocolla, the sulphides chalcocite, chalcopyrite, erubescite and tetrahedrite.

From Project Gutenberg