Plural of cassit; an archaic or specialized term for tin or tin-bearing minerals, or inhabitants of the Cassiterides.
From Greek kassiteros (tin) + -ites (plural or person suffix). An older term largely replaced by the more specific 'cassiterite' in modern mineralogy.
Before modern chemistry standardized mineral naming, people used words like 'cassites' for tin-bearing rocks—language evolved to become more precise as science became more rigorous.
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