limescale

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Limescale is the hard white deposit hard water leaves behind. Descale the kettle, limescale in the pipes, limescale round the tap.

It is calcium carbonate dropped out of the water by heat, which is why kettles and boilers suffer worst. A millimetre of limescale on a heating element costs several per cent of its efficiency, and vinegar removes it.

Definitions of limescale

1nounlimescaleThe hard white deposit hard water leaves behind.C1
“The kettle was coated with limescale because the water here is so hard.”

limescale is a deposit.

Where it comes from

Lime plus scale, from lime in the sense of calcium compounds.

From lime + scale.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Cleaning & Housework, Rocks & Minerals

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limescale in the wild

In particular, mixing liquid bleach with other cleaning products, such as acids found in limescale-removing products, will release toxic chlorine gas.
Sodium hypochlorite
In addition to being unsightly and hard to clean, limescale can seriously damage or impair the operation of various plumbing and heating components.
Limescale
Descaling agents are commonly used to remove limescale.
Limescale
Examples of oilfield scales are calcium carbonate (limescale), iron sulfides, barium sulfate and strontium sulfate.
Oilfield scale inhibition
The earthy coverings of limescale ore were then removed, to yield the raw diamonds.
Golconda diamonds mining and trading

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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