Other forms: stalactites
A stalactite is a stone spike hanging from a cave roof. A dripping stalactite, break the stalactite, stalactites overhead.
The way to remember which is which is the c: a stalactite clings to the ceiling, and a stalagmite grows from the ground. They form at a few centimetres a century, so a large one is older than any building.
1nounstalactiteA stone spike hanging from a cave roof.
“Water dripped from the tip of a long stalactite onto the cave floor.”
stalactite is a formation.
Greek stalaktos means dripping, from stalassein, to drip.
New Latin
stalactītēs
English, today
stalactite
Built from
Borrowed from New Latin stalactītēs, from grc + σταλακτός, from und + σταλάσσω. From New Latin stalactītēs, from Ancient Greek σταλακτός (“dripping; dropping”) + Latin -ītēs (modelled after the names of stones ending in -ites). Σταλακτός is derived from σταλάσσειν (“to drip; to let (something) drip”) + -τός.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA