emerald

From Middle English emeraude, borrowed from Old French esmeraude, from Vulgar Latin *smaralda, *smaraldus, *smaraudus, variant of Latin smaragdus, from Ancient Greek σμάραγδος (smáragdos), μάραγδος (máragdos), from a Semitic language. Compare Hebrew בָּרֶקֶת (bareket, “emerald, flashing gem”), Akkadian 𒁀𒊏𒄣 (baraqu, literally “scintillation”), Arabic بَرْق (barq, literally “flashing”), Egyptian bwyrqꜣ (literally “to sparkle”):

and loanwords with Semitic etymon such as Sanskrit मरकत (marakata) and Persian زمرد (zomorrod) (whence Turkish zümrüt and Russian изумру́д (izumrúd)).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛm.(ə.)ɹəld/

• Audio (Southern England)

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emerald (countable and uncountable, plural emeralds)

1. Any of various green gemstones, especially a green transparent form of beryl, highly valued as a precious stone.
   • 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 diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.

2. Emerald green, a colour.

   emerald:  

3. (heraldry) Vert, when blazoning by precious stones.
   • 1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd, page 504:

     16. As the first. Crest, on a Mount Emerald, a Falcon rising Topaz.

   • 1754, John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the ..., page 212:

     Crest. On a Wreath, a demi Dragon, Emerald, armed and langued, Roby [...] Supporters. Two Dragons reguardant, Emerald, [...]

   • 1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

     Some of the lagoons, said to have subterranean outlets, have no visible ones; the inclosing island, in such cases, being a complete zone of emerald.

4. Any hummingbird in the genera Chlorostilbon and Elvira; and some in the genus Amazilia
5. (entomology) Any of various species of dragonfly of the family Corduliidae.
6. (dated, printing, UK) A size of type between nonpareil and minion, standardized as 6½-point.

• (gemstone): smaragd (obsolete)
• (type size, US): minionette

emerald (comparative more emerald, superlative most emerald)

1. Of a rich green colour.
   • 1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour:

     The insect-queen of eastern spring, / O'er emerald meadows of Kashmeer / Invites the young pursuer near, / And leads him on from flower to flower / A weary chase and wasted hour.

emerald (third-person singular simple present emeralds, present participle emeralding, simple past and past participle emeralded)

1. (transitive, poetic) To ornament with, or as if with, emeralds; to make green.

• smaragd
• smaragdine

• beryl

• David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Emerald”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “emerald”, in Mindat.org‎, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.