schist

noun

ˈshist 

: a metamorphic crystalline rock that has a closely foliated structure and can be split along approximately parallel planes

Examples of schist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Four hundred and fifty million years ago, vast continents collided, squeezing shale into schist to form Coogan’s Bluff, in Highbridge Park, in northern Manhattan. —D. T. Max, New Yorker, 15 Sep. 2025

The soils are mainly Galestro, a type of very friable clay-schist composed of clay-limestone and sandy loam. —Joseph V Micallef, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025

And although the soil match to Barolo is off, Harvey likens the blue metamorphic schist with a high mineral content to Piedmont DOCG Gattinara, which is known for its high quality but still under the radar Nebbiolo. —Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 8 July 2025

Feldspar and mica, the main minerals in plutonic rocks like granite and metamorphic rocks like gneiss and schist, react with water and oxygen, decaying to clay minerals. —David Bressan, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French schiste (Middle French pierre schiste, with pierre "stone"), borrowed from Latin schistos (in Pliny's Naturalis historia) "a kind of iron ore, perhaps limonite," shortened from lapis schistos, literally, "fissile stone," from lapis "stone" + schistos "easily split, fissile," borrowed from Greek schistós "split, divided," verbal adjective of schízein "to split, separate" — more at shed entry 1

First Known Use

circa 1782, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for schist

• cist
• cyst
• fist
• gist
• grist
• hissed
• kissed
• kist
• list
• missed
• mist
• tryst

Kids Definition

schist

noun

ˈshist 

: a metamorphic rock that can be split along nearly parallel planes