word of the day

chert  (chûrt)

noun: A hard, brittle sedimentary rock consisting of microcrystalline quartz. It is often reddish-brown to green but can also occur in a variety of other colors, especially white, pink, brown, or black. Chert often contains impurities such as calcium, iron-oxide, or the remains of silica-rich organisms. It usually occurs as nodules in limestone and dolomite and has curved fractures.

Origin: 1670–80; origin uncertain

Related forms: chert·y, adjective

Used in a sentence:  “Well, the road to your upper pasture is washed out. We gotta go get you a [dump truck-sized] load of chert.”

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