gneiss

English

Gneiss

Etymology

From German Gneis, from Middle High German gneist (“spark”), from Old High German gneisto (“spark”). More at gnast.

Pronunciation

• enPR: nīs, IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪs/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪs
• Homophone: nice

Noun

gneiss (usually uncountable, plural gneisses)

1. (geology) A common and widely-distributed metamorphic rock having bands or veins, but not schistose.
   • 2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 98:

     The old towns along the route are as solidly built from the gneiss of the region as you might expect.

Derived terms

• calc-gneiss
• calc silicate gneiss
• calc-silicate gneiss
• gneissic
• gneissoid
• gneissose
• orthogneiss
• paragneiss

 

Translations

common and widely-distributed metamorphic rock

• Afrikaans: gneis
• Basque: gneiss
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 片麻岩 (zh) (piànmáyán)

• Czech: rula (cs) f
• Danish: gnejs (da)
• Dutch: gneis (nl)
• Esperanto: gnejso
• Estonian: gneiss (et)
• Finnish: gneissi (fi)
• French: gneiss (fr) m
• German: Gneis (de) m
• Greek: γνεύσιος (el) m (gnéfsios)
• Hungarian: gneisz (hu)
• Ido: gneiso (io)
• Italian: ortogneiss
• Japanese: 片麻岩 (へんまがん, henmagan)
• Korean: 편마암 (ko) (pyeonmaam)
• Lithuanian: gneisas m
• Luxembourgish: Gneis
• Macedonian: гнајс m (gnajs)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gneis m

  Nynorsk: gneis m

• Persian: گنیس (gneys)
• Polish: gnejs (pl) m
• Portuguese: gneisse m
• Russian: гнейс (ru) m (gnejs)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: гнајс m

  Roman: gnajs (sh) m

• Spanish: neis m, gneis (es) m
• Swedish: gnejs (sv) c
• Ukrainian: гнейс m (hnejs)
• Vietnamese: gơ-nai

Anagrams

• sengis, singes, e-signs, essing