mica
pronunciation
How to pronounce mica in British English:
UK [ˈmaɪkə]
How to pronounce mica in American English:
US ['maɪkə]
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- Noun:
- any of various minerals consisting of hydrous silicates of aluminum or potassium etc. that crystallize in forms that allow perfect cleavage into very thin leaves; used as dielectrics because of their resistance to electricity
Word Origin
- mica
- mica: [18] Latin mīca meant ‘grain’, and its original use in English (perhaps influenced by the similar but unrelated Latin verb micāre ‘shine’) was to ‘small shiny particles or platelets’ in certain sorts of rock. The modern application to a group of related silicates, which contain such shiny plates, dates from the 1790s.
- mica (n.)
- 1706, from specialized use of Latin mica "crumb, bit, morsel, grain," originally *smika (form probably influenced by Latin micare "to flash, glitter"), from PIE *smik- "small" (cognates: Greek smikros, Attic mikros "small;" Old High German smahi "littleness"). Related: Micaceous "containing mica."
Example
- 1. Thwaites 's home-made toaster is a simpler affair , using just iron , copper , plastic , nickel and mica , a ceramic .
- 2. So too the geologist does well to regard granite as a compound of quartz , felspar , and mica .