graph·ite (grāf'īt') n. A soft, steel-gray to black, hexagonally crystallized allotrope of carbon with a metallic luster and a greasy feel, used in lead pencils, lubricants, paints, and coatings, that is fabricated into a variety of forms such as molds, bricks, electrodes, crucibles, and rocket nozzles. Also called black lead, plumbago.
[Greek graphein, to write; see gerbh- in Indo-European roots + -ite1.] gra·phit'ic (grā-fĭt'ĭk) adj.
"graphite," 1784, from L. plumbago "a type of lead ore, black lead," from plumbum "lead" (see plumb); it renders Gk. molybdaina, which was used of yellow lead oxide and also of a type of plant.