cheralite

C3H4E1R1A1L1I1T1E1

noun

Any of a range of yellowish-brown to green minerals that are mixed phosphates of (primarily) calcium and thorium, associated with uraniferous deposits.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

nouncheralite (countable and uncountable, plural cheralites)

plural cheralites

  1. countableuncountablechemistryAny of a range of yellowish-brown to green minerals that are mixed phosphates of (primarily) calcium and thorium, associated with uraniferous deposits.

    Small-sized cheralite is disseminated in cavities of lateritic soil particles (e.g., of sericitized orthoclase) of the Morro do Ferro deposit, Minas Gerais, southeaster Brazil.

    2013, Reiner Ditz, Wolfgang Töpper, Bärbel Sarbas, Th Thorium: Natural Occurrence. Minerals (Excluding Silicates), →ISBN
    2 more examples

    The rotation pattern in the small interplanar region was somewhat diffuse in the cheralites and Travancore monazites, but not in the Yediyoor specimens, indicating the existence of partial disorder in the former.

    1960, Proceedings of the National Institute of Sciences of India

    Even at the thin-section scale, the cheralite mole fraction may vary over a range of more than 50%, expressing that only part of the monazites is actually in equilibrium with the host-granite REE composition.

    1995, Michael Brown, Philip M. Piccoli, The Origin of Granites and Related Rocks

Origin

From Chera + -lite, after the Chera dynasty, where the modern day type locality is located.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

cheralite. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cheralite

MLA

“cheralite.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cheralite. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cheralite,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cheralite.

Source: cheralite on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.