stalactite

The story

1. Ancient Greekσταλάσσειν (stalássein)
2. Ancient Greekσταλακτός (stalaktós)
3. New Latinstalactītēs
4. English todaystalactite

From New Latin stalactītēs, from Ancient Greek σταλακτός (stalaktós, “dripping; dropping”) + Latin -ītēs (suffix with the sense ‘belonging to’ forming adjectives) (modelled after the names of stones ending in -ites). Σταλακτός (Stalaktós) is derived from σταλάσσειν (stalássein, “to drip; to let (something) drip”) + -τός (-tós, suffix forming adjectives denoting possibility from verbs).