calamine

noun

1. a pink, water-insoluble powder consisting of zinc oxide and about 0.5 percent ferric oxide, used in ointments, lotions, or the like, for the treatment of inflammatory conditions of the skin.
2. Mineralogy. hemimorphite.
3. Chiefly British. smithsonite.

noun

1. a pink powder consisting of zinc oxide and ferric oxide, (iron(III) oxide), used medicinally in the form of soothing lotions or ointments
2. US another name for smithsonite, hemimorphite

n.

zinc carbonate; zinc silicate, 1590s, from French calamine, from Old French calemine, chalemine (13c.), from Medieval Latin calamina, corrupted by alchemists from Latin cadmia “zinc ore,” from Greek kadmeia (see cadmium). Or possibly the Medieval Latin word is from Latin calamus “reed,” in reference to the mineral’s shape.

n.

1. A pink, odorless, tasteless powder of zinc oxide with a small amount of ferric oxide, dissolved in mineral oils and used in skin lotions.