onyx

English

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onyx

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English onix (c. 1300), earlier oniche (c. 1250), from Old French oniche or onix, from Latin onyx, from Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux, “onyx”).^[1] Doublet of unguis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒnɪks/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒnɪks

Noun

onyx (countable and uncountable, plural onyxes)

2. (mineralogy) A banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz.
   • 2023 September 23, Tom Robbins, “Suite dreams”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 1:

     People talk about using marble in the bathrooms. Marble wasn't good enough for use—we have onyx!

3. A jet-black color, named after the gemstone.

   onyx:  

4. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Horaga.

Derived terms

• onyx marble

Black banded onyx

Translations

a banded variety of chalcedony

Arabic: جَزْع (jazʕ) Armenian: օնիքս (hy) (ōnikʻs) Basque: onize Breton: please add this translation if you can Bulgarian: оникс m (oniks) Catalan: ònix m Chinese: Mandarin: 縞瑪瑙／缟玛瑙 (zh) (gǎomǎnǎo), 紅璧璽／红璧玺 (zh) (hóngbìxǐ) Czech: onyx (cs) m Danish: onyks Dutch: onyx (nl) m Emilian: please add this translation if you can Estonian: oonüks Finnish: onyksi (fi) French: onyx (fr) m Friulian: please add this translation if you can Galician: ónix f Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: Onyx (de) m Hebrew: שֹׁהַם (he) m (shóham) Hindi: सुलैमानी पत्थर (sulaimānī patthar) Ido: onixo (io) Italian: onice (it) f Japanese: オニキス (onikisu), オニックス (onikkusu) Korean: 오닉스 (onikseu) Latin: onyx m or f Latvian: onikss Ligurian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: oniksas Lombard: please add this translation if you can Maori: onika Marathi: ऑनिक्स m (ŏniksa) Norwegian: onyx m Occitan: onix m Odia: [script needed] (kwaja pathara) Persian: عقیق سلیمانی ('aqiq-e soleymâni) Piedmontese: please add this translation if you can Polish: onyks (pl) m Portuguese: ónix (pt) Romagnol: please add this translation if you can Romanian: onix (ro) m Russian: о́никс (ru) m (óniks) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: оникс m Roman: oniks (sh) m Slovene: óniks (sl) m Spanish: ónix (es) f, ónice (es) f, ónique (es) f Swahili: sardoniki Tagalog: oniks Thai: โอนิกซ์ (oo-ník) Turkish: oniks (tr) Ukrainian: о́нікс m (óniks) Urdu: سلیمانی پتھر (sulaimānī patthar) Welsh: onics m

Adjective

onyx (not comparable)

1. jet-black
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:
     , Genesis, 2:12

     And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/7/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎:

     There was no moon, only stars set brilliantly in the soft black onyx of the sky : a black night and very silent on Cimiez ; and a black and silent prospect from the verandah […]

See also

• sardonyx

References

1. Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, Robert K. Barnhart (ed.), Chambers, 1988

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux, “nail”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈo.nyks/, [ˈɔnʏks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈo.niks/, [ˈɔːniks]

Noun

onyx m (genitive onychis); third declension

1. onyx, yellow marble
2. A yellowish precious stone
3. The female of a mussel of the scallop species

Declension

Third-declension noun

	singular	plural
nominative	onyx	onychēs
genitive	onychis	onychum
dative	onychī	onychibus
accusative	onychem	onychēs
ablative	onyche	onychibus
vocative	onyx	onychēs

References

• “onyx”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “onyx”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “onyx”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “onyx”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Middle English

Noun

onyx (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of oniche

Portuguese

Noun

onyx m (invariable)

1. Pre-reform spelling (until Brazil 1943/Portugal 1911) of ónix.