vitrain

noun

1. A constituent of banded bituminous coal consisting of a horizontal glossy band of friable material.

   countable, uncountable

   The caking behaviour of vitrain and clarain could be improved after the coal has been picked out.

Where it comes from

From Latin vitreus (“vitreous”) + -ain in fusain; compare French -ain (“-ane”). Coined by British birth control campaigner and paleontologist Marie Stopes in 1918.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry vitrain (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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