Word.ws English Dictionary

oolith

Syllables: oo·lith/ˈəʊəlɪθ/US/ˈoʊəˌlɪθ/

oolith noun: a spherical granule of which oolite is composed, formed by concentric accretion of thin layers of a mineral (usually calcium carbonate (limestone) but also others such as dolomite and silica) around a core; an ooid.

Noun

oolith (plural ooliths)

  1. A spherical granule of which oolite is composed, formed by concentric accretion of thin layers of a mineral (usually calcium carbonate (limestone) but also others such as dolomite and silica) around a core; an ooid.
    Synonyms:
    oolite
  2. (rare) Oolite.

oolith meaning in Arabic and Persian

oolith in Arabic

spherical granule of which oolite is composed — see also ooid
أوليث 'uwlith

oolith in Persian

spherical granule of which oolite is composed — see also ooid
اولیت 'uwlit

Synonyms of oolith

Forms of oolith

pluralooliths

Origin of oolith

Borrowed from Late Latin oolithus; the Latin word was coined by the German doctor and mineralogist Franz Ernst Brückmann (1697–1753) as a translation of German Rogenstein (“oolite”) (Rogen (“fish roe”) + Stein (“stone”)). Oolithus is derived from Ancient Greek ᾠόν (ōión, “egg; seed”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew- (“to clothe oneself, dress; to be dressed”), in the sense of a bird being clothed in feathers) + λῐ́θος (lĭ́thos, “a stone; stone as a substance”) (see further at that entry), analysable as oo- + -lith.

Questions about oolith

What does oolith mean?
Oolith means a spherical granule of which oolite is composed, formed by concentric accretion of thin layers of a mineral (usually calcium carbonate (limestone) but also others such as dolomite and silica) around a core; an ooid.
What is oolith in Arabic?
Oolith in Arabic is أوليث ('uwlith). See Oolith meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is oolith?
Oolith is a noun.
How do you pronounce oolith?
Oolith is pronounced /ˈəʊəlɪθ/ (UK).
What is the plural of oolith?
The plural of oolith is ooliths.

Words near oolith in the dictionary

  1. oolicans
  2. oolichan
  3. oolichans
  4. oolite
  5. oolites
  6. oolith
  7. oolithic
  8. ooliths
  9. oolitic
  10. oolitics
  11. oolitiferous

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oolith (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:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-oolith.wav.

Cite this entry: “oolith.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/oolith. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.