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From New Latinstalactites, from Ancient Greekσταλακτός(stalaktós, “dripping; dropping”) + Latin-ītēs(suffix with the sense ‘belonging to’ forming adjectives) (modelled after the names of stones ending in -ites). Σταλακτός(Stalaktós) is derived from σταλάσσειν(stalássein, “to drip; to let (something) drip”) + -τός(-tós, suffix forming adjectives denoting possibility from verbs).[1][2]
In one place, near at hand, a stalagmite had been slowly growing up from the ground for ages, builded by the water-drip from a stalactite overhead.
2014 October 31, David W. Lloyd, “Deep in Vietnam, Exploring a Colossal Cave”, in The New York Times:
There is the Hang Ken cave with its waterfalls spilling into large lagoons, shimmering goldlike mineral deposits and soaring columns created over thousands of years when stalactites hanging from the cave roof met stalagmite formations building from the cave floor.
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
stalactite on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 
