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Salt Glossary

Halite

Updated November 8, 2026

The mineral name for natural rock salt (sodium chloride).

Its crystals are cubes, which you can see under a magnifying glass in ordinary table salt. The word comes from Greek hals, “salt.”

A clear, cube-shaped crystal of halite (rock salt)
A halite crystal from Stassfurt, Germany, at the Natural History Museum, London. Notice the cube shape.Photo: Aram Dulyan. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Image source

Related terms

EvaporiteRock saltSodium chloride (NaCl)

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Cite this page

For school projects and reports. Teachers often prefer the original sources too: see the list below.

The Salt Almanac. (2026, November 8). Halite. https://saltalmanac.com/glossary/halite

Original sources

  1. Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Salt labelling requirements. https://inspection.canada.ca/en/food-labels/labelling/industry/salt
  2. WorldAtlas. Where is the world's largest underground salt mine? https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/where-is-the-world-s-largest-underground-salt-mine.html
  3. U.S. Geological Survey. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Salt. https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2026/mcs2026-salt.pdf