opal
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Etymology
In Florio’s A World of Words 1598 as opale, from French opale, from Latin opalus, from Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem, stone”), from उपरि (upári, “the upper millstone”).[1] Distantly related to over.
Pronunciation
Noun
opal (plural opals)
- (mineralogy) A mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity, of the chemical formula SiO2·nH2O.
- (gemology) A precious gem, an iridescent gemstone found in the opal-silica mineral substrate (potch)
- 2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 June 2012, page 128:
- Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)
- (biology, genetics, biochemistry) A colloquial name used in molecular biology referring to a particular stop codon sequence, "UGA."
- Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Nesolycaena.
Derived terms
Translations
a mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity
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Further reading
- David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Opal”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
- “opal”, in Mindat.org, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.
- Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, Robert K. Barnhart (ed.), Chambers, 1988
Anagrams
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