The story
From Moissan + -ite; the mineral form of silicon carbide was named moissanite in honor of chemist Henri Moissan.^([1]) ².
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Today it means: Crystalline silicon carbide with various crystalline polymorphs, either naturally-occurring or synthetic. Full definition →
From Moissan + -ite; the mineral form of silicon carbide was named moissanite in honor of chemist Henri Moissan.^([1]) ².
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.