calamine

See also: calaminé

English

Etymology

From French calamine, from Medieval Latin calamīna, from Latin cadmīa, ultimately from Ancient Greek Κᾰδμείᾱ (Kădmeíā), from Κάδμος (Kádmos, “Cadmus”) + -εια (-eia, “-ia: forming related substances”). Doublet of cadmia, calaminaris, and lapis calaminaris.

Noun

calamine (usually uncountable, plural calamines)

1. (inorganic chemistry) Synonym of smithsonite, a pink form of zinc oxide (mainly zinc carbonate ZnCO₃) formed as a byproduct of zinc sublimation, now used in skin lotions.
   • 1959, “Poison Ivy”, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (lyrics), performed by The Coasters:

     Poison Ivy, Lord,'ll make you itch
     You're gonna need an ocean
     Of calamine lotion
     You'll be scratchin' like a hound
     The minute you start to mess around

   • 2022, Ling Ma, “Tomorrow”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:

     For Secret Santa two years before, she had gifted him a bottle of calamine lotion.

2. (mineralogy) Synonym of hemimorphite, an orthorhombic-pyramidal mineral containing zinc.

Synonyms

• (pink form of zinc oxide): calaminaris, lapis calaminaris

Derived terms

• calamine brass

Translations

pink form of zinc oxide

• French: calamine (fr)
• German: mit Eisenoxid eingefärbtes Zinkoxidpulver n (descriptive), Calamin m, Calamine n, carbonatischer Galmei m
• Greek:

  Ancient: Καδμεία f (Kadmeía)

• Italian: calamina (it)
• Latin: cadmia, calamina, calaminaris, lapis calaminaris
• Spanish: calamina (es)

Verb

calamine (third-person singular simple present calamines, present participle calamining, simple past and past participle calamined)

1. (transitive) To coat or treat with calamine.

Anagrams

• analcime, camelina

French

Etymology

FromMedieval Latin calamīna, from Latin cadmī̆a, ultimately from Ancient Greek Κᾰδμείᾱ (Kădmeíā), from Κάδμος (Kádmos, “Cadmus”) + -εια (-eia, “-ia: forming related substances”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

calamine f (plural calamines)

1. calamine, form of zinc oxide formed as a byproduct of sublimation
2. (figuratively) carbon residue formed as a byproduct in two-stroke engines

Descendants

• English: calamine

Further reading

• “calamine”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Noun

calamine f

1. plural of calamina

Anagrams

• alcmanie, lemanica, melanica