[pahy-rok-seen, puh-, pahy-rok-seen] 
| any of a very common group of minerals of many varieties, silicates of magnesium, iron, calcium, and other elements, occurring as important constituents of many kinds of rocks, esp. basic igneous rocks. |
| py·rox·ene (pī-rŏk'sēn') n. Any of a group of crystalline silicate minerals common in igneous and metamorphic rocks and containing two metallic oxides, as of magnesium, iron, calcium, sodium, or aluminum. [French pyroxène : Greek puro-, pyro- + Greek xenos, stranger (originally viewed as a foreign substance when found in igneous rocks); see ghos-ti- in Indo-European roots.] py'rox·en'ic (pī'rŏk-sē'nĭk, -sěn'ĭk) adj. |
| pyroxene (pī-rŏk'sēn') Pronunciation Key
Any of a series of dark silicate minerals having the general chemical formula ABSi2O6, where A is either calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), or iron (Fe), and B is either magnesium, iron, chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), or aluminum (Al). Pyroxenes vary in color from white to dark green or black and are characterized by a rectangular-shaped cross section. They can be either monoclinic or orthorhombic and occur in igneous and metamorphic rocks. The minerals enstatite, diopside, and augite are pyroxenes. |
sin