MINERALOGY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mineralogy mean? 

• MINERALOGY (noun)
  The noun MINERALOGY has 1 sense:

1. the branch of geology that studies minerals: their structure and properties and the ways of distinguishing them

  Familiarity information: MINERALOGY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MINERALOGY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The branch of geology that studies minerals: their structure and properties and the ways of distinguishing them

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("mineralogy" is a kind of...):

geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)

Domain member category:

geode ((mineralogy) a hollow rock or nodule with the cavity usually lined with crystals)

nodule ((mineralogy) a small rounded lump of mineral substance (usually harder than the surrounding rock or sediment))

asterism ((mineralogy) a star-shaped figure with six rays that is seen in some crystal structures under reflected or transmitted light)

twins ((mineralogy) two interwoven crystals that are mirror images on each other)

Derivation:

mineralogist (a scientist trained in mineralogy)

 Context examples 

The rover's mineralogy instrument, called CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy), provided the first analyses of rock samples drilled in the clay-bearing unit.

(Curiosity Mars Rover Finds a Clay Cache, NASA)