a soft coal, usually dark brown, often having a distinct woodlike texture, and intermediate in density and carbon content between peat and bituminous coal.
lig·nite (lĭg'nīt') n. A soft, brownish-black coal in which the alteration of vegetable matter has proceeded further than in peat but not as far as in bituminous coal. Also called brown coal. lig·nit'ic (-nĭt'ĭk) adj.
"imperfectly formed coal," 1808, from Fr., from L. lignum "wood." Brown coal that still shows traces of the wood it once was. Probably directly from Lithanthrax Lignius, name given to woody coal by Wallerius, 1775.