chryso-, chrys-

A red-brown or greenish-black crystalline solid which produces orange colors in aqueous (water) or alcohol solutions: The use of chrysoidine is used primarily in dyeing cotton and silk materials.

A mineral silicate of iron and magnesium, principally found in igneous (a molten state from heat) and metamorphic (altered in composition by extreme heat, pressure, and chemical substances) rocks and used as a structural material in refractories, or the inside walls of a furnace, and in cements.

Any goldn-yellow to brown freshwater algae of the class Chrysomonadales (phylum Chrysophyta), living singly or in colonies, blooms may color the water brown.

A bright yellow dye derived from stilbene, used primarily for dyeing leather and textiles.

Someone who is a lover of gold: As a chrysophilist, Steve had such a fondness for possessing gold that he was spending as much money as possible in buying gold coins and gold bars.

The love of gold: Susan was very much attracted to and involved with chrysophily and found herself collecting everything made of gold, she even went to the bank to buy some gold coins and bars of gold!

Algae of comprising the yellow-green algae, golden-brown algae, and diatoms, distinguished by having in various proportions the three pigment groups chlorophyll (green), carotene (yellow), and xanthophyll (brown), and storing food reserves as oil rather than as starch.

Referring to the remedy or doctoring of a disease with gold compounds: The chrysotherapeutic medicine is used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Treatment of a disease by the administration of gold salts; also, aurotherapy: The application of gold compounds to medicine is called chrysotherapy and "aurotherapy."

Chrysotherapy is primarily used to reduce inflammation and to slow disease progression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The use of injected gold salts for chrysotherapy is rare now because of numerous side effects, the need for continual patient monitoring, limited capacity to produce the results desired, and the slow beginning of any healing.

The efficacy of orally administered gold is even more limited than injectable gold compounds during chrysotherapy.

1. A variety of serpentine (curving in various directions) minerals which are used in commerce under the name asbestos: A hydrous (containing water) silicate (white or colorless compound) of magnesia, chrysotile consists of a fine, more or less silklike fibrous structure.

Chrysotiles are delicately fibrous varieties of materials that separate easily into silky and flexible fibers of greenish or yellowish colors.

Most of the common asbestos of commercial use consists of chrysotiles since it has been established that chrysotile is less hazardous than amphibole asbestos because the fibers of chrysotiles will dissolve in human lungs and amphiboles (silicate minerals including asbestos) will not.

2. Etymology: derived from the Greek words for "gold" and "fibrous" or" hair"; literally "hair of gold".