phyllosilicate: Meaning and Definition of

phyl•lo•sil•i•cate

Pronunciation: (fil"ō-sil'i-kit, -kāt"), [key]
— n.
  1. any silicate mineral having the tetrahedral silicate groups linked in sheets, each group containing four oxygen atoms, three of which are shared with other groups so that the ratio of silicon atoms to oxygen atoms is two to five.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.