noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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/ʃɪst/
Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɪst
CMU ARPABET:SH IH1 S T
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Any of a variety of coarse-grained crystalline metamorphic rocks with a foliated structure that allows easy division into slabs or slates.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Examples
1915, Charles Will Wright, Geology and Ore Deposits of Copper Mountain and Kasaan Peninsula, Alaska, US Geological Survey, Professional Paper 87, page 29, Narrow bands of schist are interstratified with these limestones, and in turn narrow beds of limestone are interstratified with the schists.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
any metamorphic rock that can be split into thin layers
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: metamorphic rock
History
Etymology
From French schiste, from Latin schistos lapis (“the stone that is easy to split”), from Ancient Greek σχιστός (skhistós, “splittable”), from σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”).
Across languages
Translations
34 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Bulgarian:
шиста
(šista)
— crystalline foliated rock
Catalan:
esquist
— crystalline foliated rock
Chinese Mandarin:
頁岩 /页岩
(yèyán)
— crystalline foliated rock
Chinese Mandarin:
泥板岩
(níbǎnyán)
— crystalline foliated rock
Chinese Mandarin:
片岩
(piànyán)
— crystalline foliated rock
Dutch:
schist
— crystalline foliated rock
Esperanto:
skisto
— crystalline foliated rock
Finnish:
liuske
— crystalline foliated rock
French:
schiste
— crystalline foliated rock
Galician:
xisto
— crystalline foliated rock
German:
Glimmerschiefer
— crystalline foliated rock
German:
Grünschiefer
— crystalline foliated rock
German:
kristalliner Schiefer
— crystalline foliated rock
German:
Blauschiefer
— crystalline foliated rock
German:
Glaukophanschiefer
— crystalline foliated rock
German:
Graphitschiefer
— crystalline foliated rock
Hungarian:
kristályos pala
— crystalline foliated rock
Hungarian:
csillámpala
— crystalline foliated rock
Ido:
skisto
— crystalline foliated rock
Indonesian:
sekis
— crystalline foliated rock
Ingrian:
slantsa
— crystalline foliated rock
Italian:
scisto
— crystalline foliated rock
Japanese:
片岩
(hengan)
— crystalline foliated rock
Macedonian:
шкри́лец
(škrílec)
— crystalline foliated rock
Malay:
syis
— crystalline foliated rock
Māori:
kurupaku
— crystalline foliated rock
Norwegian Bokmål:
skifer
— crystalline foliated rock
Norwegian Nynorsk:
skifer
— crystalline foliated rock
Portuguese:
xisto
— crystalline foliated rock
Russian:
сла́нец
(slánec)
— crystalline foliated rock
Serbo-Croatian:
šist
— crystalline foliated rock
Slovene:
škriljevec
— crystalline foliated rock
Spanish:
esquisto
— crystalline foliated rock
Swedish:
glimmerskiffer
— crystalline foliated rock
