Meanings
nounalite (uncountable)
- uncountableAn impure form of tricalcium silicate.
After heating in the kiln, the melted material is cooled rapidly to form an assemblage of the silicates alite (also known by the cement chemistry notation C3S) and belite (C2S), tricalcium aluminate (C3A) and tetracalcium aluminoferrite (C4AF), known as clinker.
2020 September 22, G. Habert, S. A. Miller, V. M. John, J. L. Provis, A. Favier, A. Horvath & K. L. Scrivener, “Environmental impacts and decarbonization strategies in the cement and concrete industries”, in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Origin
Named by Alfred Elis Törnebohm in 1897 after examining Portland cement through a microscope.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
alite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alite
MLA
“alite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alite. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “alite,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alite.
Source: alite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.