Hemimorphite, one of the common sorosilicates gets its name from its polar or hemimorphic crystal characteristic features. Hemimorphite was originally named as calamine but this name was already in use for another mineral and hemimorphite was the common choice. But now-a-days it is the name that is widely used. The word ‘hemi’ itself means half while the ‘morph’ means shape and thus no other name could have been better than hemimorphite.
The unique structure of hemimorphite is such that the bottom portion is rather blunt being dominated by a pedion face while the opposite end that is the top is like the point of a pyramid. Though there are few other minerals which exhibit hemimorphic characteristics such as tourmaline, none can show them as well as hemimorphite.
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