nepheline

See also: néphéline

English

Nepheline

Etymology

From Ancient Greek νεφέλη (nephélē, “cloud”), because crystals become cloudy when exposed to acid, +‎ -ine.

Noun

nepheline (countable and uncountable, plural nephelines)

1. (mineralogy) A feldspathoid mineral of silica-poor igneous, plutonic and volcanic rocks. Chemically, nepheline is a plagioclase feldspar with insufficient silica to satisfy the chemical bonds. Because of the unfilled bonds, nepheline weathers rapidly and can only be seen as inclusions in freshly broken rock.

Synonyms

• nephelite

Derived terms

• nephelinic

Translations

feldspathoid mineral

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 霞石 (zh) (xiáshí)

• Finnish: nefeliini
• Italian: nefelina f
• Japanese: 霞石 (かすみいし, kasumiishi)
• Kazakh: нефелин (nefelin)
• Kyrgyz: нефелин (nefelin)
• Spanish: nefelina f

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Nepheline”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “nepheline”, in Mindat.org‎^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.