laterite
UK/ˈlatəɹʌɪt/
laterite noun: a red hard or gravel-like soil or subsoil formed in the tropics that has been leached of soluble minerals leaving insoluble iron and aluminium oxides and hydroxides; used to make bricks and roads.
Noun
laterite (countable and uncountable, plural laterites)
- A red hard or gravel-like soil or subsoil formed in the tropics that has been leached of soluble minerals leaving insoluble iron and aluminium oxides and hydroxides; used to make bricks and roads.
- Although the track is ballasted, it does not prevent clouds of reddish dust from the laterite soil blowing about when the train is in motion; after a journey with the windows open a bath is a necessity!1948 September and October, W. S. Darby, “The Gold Coast Railway—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 287
- Constant tropical rain makes a mush of hard old lavas. The end product is a brick red soil called laterite.2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 38
- Synonyms:
- murram
laterite meaning in Tamil, Kannada and Vietnamese
laterite in Tamil
- செம்புரைக்கல், செம்பூராங்கல், துருக்கல், செங்கப்பிக்கல், செம்பாறை, செம்பூரான்கல்
laterite in Kannada
- ಜಂಬಿಟ್ಟಿಗೆ, ಮುರ
laterite in Vietnamese
- red hard or gravel-like soil or subsoil
- đá ong
Synonyms of laterite
Forms of laterite
| plural | laterites |
|---|
Origin of laterite
From Latin later (“brick”) + -ite.
Words formed from laterite
Questions about laterite
- What does laterite mean?
- Laterite means a red hard or gravel-like soil or subsoil formed in the tropics that has been leached of soluble minerals leaving insoluble iron and aluminium oxides and hydroxides; used to make bricks and roads.
- What is laterite in Tamil?
- Laterite in Tamil is செம்புரைக்கல், செம்பூராங்கல், துருக்கல். See Laterite meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is laterite?
- Laterite is a noun.
- How do you pronounce laterite?
- Laterite is pronounced /ˈlatəɹʌɪt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of laterite?
- The plural of laterite is laterites.
Words near laterite in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: laterite (page history and authors); laterite (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); laterite (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “laterite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/laterite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.