kalker

Kalker is a Dutch term with several related meanings tied to lime (kalk) and the lime industry. The common root is kalk, meaning calcium carbonate or lime, with the agent suffix -er to indicate a person or thing associated with it.

Historically, a kalker referred to a person who worked with lime, especially someone employed in a lime kiln or kalkoven. In this occupational sense, kalkers operated kilns that heated limestone to high temperatures to produce quicklime (calcium oxide). Quicklime could then be used to make mortar, plaster, soil treatment, and various chemical products. The lime-burning industry was important in parts of the Netherlands and neighboring regions from the 18th through the 20th century, and kalkers played a central role in local economies during that period. The process involves heating calcium carbonate to drive off carbon dioxide, producing CaO, which can be hydrated to form slaked lime (Ca(OH)2).

In other contexts, the word can appear in discussions of calcareous materials or deposits, where lime-related incrustations form on surfaces. In such cases, more common Dutch terms are kalk or kalkafzetting, while the use of kalker to denote a deposit is dialect- or context-dependent and less standardized.

Kalker can also appear as a surname in Dutch- and German-speaking areas, and it may occur in place names or historical references related to lime production.

See also: kalk, kalksteen, kalkbrander, lime production.