chrysotile

noun

chrys·​o·​tile ˈkri-sə-ˌtī(-ə)l How to pronounce chrysotile (audio)
: a mineral consisting of a fibrous silky variety of serpentine and constituting a common form and principal source of asbestos

Examples of chrysotile in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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By banning chrysotile, the last form of asbestos still in use within the country, the U.S. finally joins more than 50 other countries that have already prohibited it. Elizabeth B. Kim, The Enquirer, 7 Apr. 2024 Last spring, the EPA proposed a ban on chrysotile, or white asbestos, the most common type. Kathleen McGrory, ProPublica, 24 Mar. 2023 Such deposits are sometimes laced with actinolite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, and tremolite. Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 12 Sep. 2022 OxyChem used chrysotile, or white asbestos, the most common type. Kathleen McGrory, ProPublica, 22 Oct. 2022 However, according to internal documents, dozens of tests have found minerals such as tremolite, chrysotile, and actinolite—which, in certain forms, constitute asbestos—in the company’s talc. Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 12 Sep. 2022 In Lowell, Vermont, for instance, stands a pile of tailings hundreds of feet tall, from what was once the United States’ largest chrysotile asbestos mine. Eliza Griswold, The New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2022 The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed to ban chrysotile asbestos, the most common form of the toxic mineral still used in the United States. Anna Phillips, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Apr. 2022 Most consumer products that historically contained chrysotile asbestos have been discontinued. CBS News, 5 Apr. 2022

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Chrysotil, from chryso- chryso- + Greek -til-, taken to mean "fiber," base of tíllein "to pluck, pick," of uncertain origin

Note: Term introduced by the German mineralogist Franz von Kobell (1803-82) in "Ueber den Spadaït, eine neue Mineralspecies, und über den Wollastonit von Capo di bove," Journal für praktische Chemie, Band 30 (1843), p. 469. Kobell cites chrysós "Gold" and tílos "Faser" ("fiber") as sources, but a noun tílos only exists in ancient Greek as a plural tíloi "the fine hair of the eyebrows."

First Known Use

1850, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of chrysotile was in 1850

Dictionary Entries Near chrysotile

Cite this Entry

“Chrysotile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chrysotile. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

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