# melatope

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. An eye shape of concentric coloured optical fringes seen on a conoscopic interference pattern surrounding an optical axis. For biaxial minerals there are a pair of circles, like eyes.

## Etymology
Coined by A. Johannsen on page 420 in A Manual of Petrographic Methods McGraw-Hill 1918

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/melatope