The story
- Ancient Greek · derived fromνεφέλη“cloud”
- English todaynepheline
From Ancient Greek νεφέλη (nephélē, “cloud”), because crystals become cloudy when exposed to acid, + -ine.
Words from the same roots
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
nepheline
Today it means: A feldspathoid mineral of silica-poor igneous, plutonic and volcanic rocks. Chemically, nepheline is a plagioclase feldspar with insufficient silica to satisfy the chemical bonds. Because of the unfilled bonds, nepheline weathers rapidly and can only be seen as inclusions in freshly broken rock. Full definition →
Ancient Greek νεφέλη