Luster is adamantine or submetallic to dull or earthy if massive. Crystals are transparent to translucent. Crystal Habits include the cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and combinations of these forms. Some display faces of the obscure gyroid form. A variety known as Chalcotrichite forms long needle-like crystals or fuzzy crusts.
Cleavage is fair in four directions forming octahedrons.
Fracture is conchoidal. Streak is brick red. Associated Minerals are limonite , copper , chrysocolla , malachite and other secondary copper minerals. Forms a surface film with long exposure to strong light. Crystals of cuprite are sometimes altered or partially altered to malachite and rarely copper.