amianthus

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀμίαντος (amíantos, “undefiled”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + μιαίνω (miaínō, “I defile”).

Noun

amianthus (uncountable)

A type of asbestos with long, soft, thin fibers.
- 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographia, I:
  the Microscope can afford us hundreds of Instances of Points many thousand times sharper: such as […] the ends of the stiriæ or small parallelipipeds of Amianthus […]

Translations

a type of asbestos with long, soft, thin fibers

Portuguese: amianto (pt) m

Spanish: amianto m

Further reading

“Amianthus” in David Barthelmy, Webmineral Mineralogy Database, 1997–.
“amianthus”, in Mindat.org‎, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, accessed 29 August 2016.

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