speleothem
Syllables: spe·le·o·themUK/ˈspiːlioʊˌθɛm//ˈspiːliəˌθɛm/
speleothem noun: any secondary mineral, deposited in a natural cave by the action of water. Includes formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, and helictites.
Noun
speleothem (plural speleothems)
- Any secondary mineral, deposited in a natural cave by the action of water. Includes formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, and helictites.
- But it is possible that the painting itself might be thousands of years older because the technique only assesses the age of a mineral deposit, speleothem, that formed on the cave walls.2021 January 13, Becky Ferreira, “Pig Painting May Be World’s Oldest Cave Art Yet, Archaeologists Say”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
- Synonyms:
- cave formation
Synonyms of speleothem
Forms of speleothem
| plural | speleothems |
|---|
Origin of speleothem
From Ancient Greek σπήλαιον (spḗlaion, “cave”) + θέμα (théma, “what is laid down”).
Words formed from speleothem
Questions about speleothem
- What does speleothem mean?
- Speleothem means any secondary mineral, deposited in a natural cave by the action of water. Includes formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, flowstones, and helictites.
- What part of speech is speleothem?
- Speleothem is a noun.
- How do you pronounce speleothem?
- Speleothem is pronounced /ˈspiːliəˌθɛm/ (US).
- What is the plural of speleothem?
- The plural of speleothem is speleothems.
Words near speleothem in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: speleothem (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)-Wodencafe-speleothem.wav.
Cite this entry: “speleothem.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/speleothem. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.