crystal

crystal

See also: Crystal

English

Alternative forms

• crystall (obsolete)
• chrystal (obsolete)
• cristal (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English crystal, cristal, criȝstall, from Old English cristalla (“crystal”), a borrowing from Latin crystallum (“crystal, ice”) (later reinforced from Anglo-Norman cristall and Middle French cristal, from Latin crystallum), from Ancient Greek κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “clear ice”), from κρύος (krúos, “frost”), from Proto-Indo-European *krews- (“hard, hard outer surface, crust”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: krĭsʹtəl, IPA^(key): /ˈkɹɪstəl/

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪstəl

Noun

crystal (countable and uncountable, plural crystals)

1. (countable) A solid composed of an array of atoms or molecules possessing long-range order and arranged in a pattern which is periodic in three dimensions.

   Synonym: grain

   Antonyms: amorphous, glass

2. (countable) A piece of glimmering, shining mineral resembling ice or glass.
3. (uncountable) A fine type of glassware, or the material used to make it.
4. (uncountable, slang) Crystal meth: methamphetamine hydrochloride.
   • 1968, Joan Didion, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, in Slouching Towards Bethlehem:

     He tells me he's been shooting crystal, which I already pretty much know because he does not bother to keep his sleeves rolled down over the needle tracks.

5. (obsolete, usually in the plural) a person's eye.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene iii], page 75, column 2:

     Come, let's away. My loue, giue me thy Lippes: Looke to my Chattels, and my Moueables: [...] Goe, cleare they Chryſtalls. Yokefellowes in Armes, let vs to France

     Come, let's away. My love, kiss me. Look after my goods and property [...] Go, dry your eyes. Comrades in arms, let us to France

6. The glass over the dial of a watch case.

Derived terms

• anticrystal
• blood crystal
• Charcot-Leyden crystal
• cheese crystal
• clear as crystal
• compound crystal
• crystal ball
• Crystal City
• crystal class
• crystal clear
• crystal-clear
• crystal dick
• Crystal Falls
• crystal field theory
• crystal-gazer
• crystal-gazing
• crystal habit
• crystal healing
• crystallant
• crystal lattice
• crystalliferous
• crystalline
• crystallite
• crystallization, crystallisation
• crystallize, crystallise
• crystallographer
• crystalloid
• crystal magick
• crystal methamphetamine
• crystal momentum
• crystal oven
• Crystal Palace
• crystal radio
• crystal radio receiver
• crystal set
• crystal sphere
• crystal stone
• crystal system
• crystal twinning
• crystal violet
• ferroelectric crystal
• ferroelectric liquid-crystal display
• hopper crystal
• Iceland crystal
• ionic crystal
• lead crystal
• liquid crystal
• liquid crystal display
• mountain crystal
• negative crystal
• paracrystal
• phononic crystal
• photonic crystal
• positive crystal
• quartz-crystal clock
• quasi-crystal
• quasicrystal
• rock crystal
• seed crystal
• single crystal
• sonocrystal
• space-time crystal
• thorn-apple crystal
• time crystal
• twin crystal

 

Descendants

• → Hindi: क्रिस्टल (krisṭal)
• → Japanese: クリスタル (kurisutaru)

Translations

array of atoms

Albanian: kristal (sq) m Arabic: قَرِيس‎ (qarīs), قَرِيت‎ (qarīt), بِلَّوْر‎ f (billawr) Armenian: բյուրեղ (hy) (byureł) Azerbaijani: kristall Basque: kristal (eu) Belarusian: крышта́ль m (kryštálʹ) Bengali: স্ফটিক (bn) (sphôtik) Bulgarian: криста́л (bg) m (kristál) Burmese: ပုံဆောင်ခဲ (my) (pumhcaunghkai:) Catalan: cristall (ca) m Chinese: Cantonese: 結晶, 结晶 (git3 zing1) Hakka: 結晶, 结晶 (kiet-chîn) Mandarin: 結晶／结晶 (zh) (jiéjīng) Min Nan: 結晶 (zh-min-nan), 结晶 (kiat-cheng) Crimean Tatar: büllür, kristall Czech: krystal (cs) m Danish: krystal (da) n Dutch: kristal (nl) n Dzongkha: ཆུ་ཤེལ (chu shel) Esperanto: kristalo Estonian: kristall (et) Finnish: kide (fi) French: cristal (fr) m Galician: cristal (gl) m Georgian: კრისტალი (ḳrisṭali), ბროლი (broli) German: Kristall (de) m Greek: κρύσταλλος (el) m (krýstallos) Hawaiian: pōhaku aʻiaʻi Hebrew: גָּבִישׁ‎ (he) m (gavísh) Hindi: क्रिस्टल (hi) m (krisṭal), स्फटिक (hi) m (sphaṭik), अमल (hi) m (amal), बिल्लौर (hi) m (billaur) Hungarian: kristály (hu), jegec (hu) Icelandic: kristall (is) m, kristallur (is) m Irish: criostal m Italian: cristallo (it) m Japanese: 結晶 (ja) (けっしょう, kesshō) Kannada: ಸ್ಫಟಿಕ (kn) (sphaṭika) Kazakh: кристалл (kristall) Khmer: ផលិក (km) (phɑlək), ផ្លេក (km) (phleek) Korean: 결정(結晶) (ko) (gyeoljeong) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: belûr (ku) f Kyrgyz: кристалл (ky) (kristall) Ladino: kristal m Lao: ຜະລຶກ (pha lưk), ຜະລິກະ (pha li ka) Latin: crystallum n Latvian: kristāls m Lithuanian: kristalas m Luxembourgish: Kristall m Macedonian: криста́л m (kristál) Malagasy: kristaly (mg) Malay: hablur (ms), kristal (ms) Mandaic: ࡁࡉࡋࡀࡅࡓ‎ (bīlawr) Maori: kōataata, pīataata, tioata Marathi: स्फटिक m (sphaṭik) Mongolian: Cyrillic: кристалл (mn) (kristall), болор (mn) (bolor) Nahuatl: tehuilotl (nah) Navajo: tséghádiʼnídínii Norwegian: Bokmål: krystall m or n Nynorsk: krystall m or n Persian: بلور‎ (fa) (bolur) Polish: kryształ (pl) m Portuguese: cristal (pt) m Punjabi: ਬਲੌਰ m (balaur) Romanian: cristal (ro) n Russian: криста́лл (ru) m (kristáll) Sanskrit: स्फटिक (sa) m (sphaṭika), अमल (sa) m (amala) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: крѝста̄л m, ле̏дац m Roman: krìstāl (sh) m, lȅdac (sh) m Slovak: kryštál m, krištáľ m Slovene: kristal (sl) m Spanish: cristal (es) m Swedish: kristall (sv) c Tajik: булӯр (bulür) Tamil: படிகம் (ta) (paṭikam) Tatar: кристалл (kristall) Telugu: స్ఫటికము (te) (sphaṭikamu) Thai: ผลึก (th) (pà-lʉ̀k) Tswana: legakwa class 3 Turkish: kristal (tr), billur (tr), billûr (tr) Ukrainian: криста́л m (krystál) Urdu: بِلُور‎ m (bilor) Uyghur: كرىستال‎ (kristal) Uzbek: kristall (uz), billur (uz) Vietnamese: tinh thể (vi), pha lê (vi) Welsh: crisial (cy) m

mineral

Albanian: kristal (sq) m Arabic: قَرِيس‎ (qarīs), قَرِيت‎ (qarīt) Armenian: բյուրեղ (hy) (byureł) Basque: kristal (eu) Bulgarian: криста́л (bg) m (kristál) Chinese: Mandarin: 水晶 (zh) (shuǐjīng) Crimean Tatar: büllür Czech: křišťál (cs) m Dutch: kristal (nl) n Esperanto: kristalo Finnish: kristalli (fi) French: cristal (fr) m Galician: cristal (gl) m Georgian: კრისტალი (ḳrisṭali) German: Kristall (de) m Greek: κρύσταλλο (el) n (krýstallo) Hawaiian: pōhaku aʻiaʻi Hebrew: בְּדוֹלַח‎ (he) m (bdólaḥ) Hindi: बिल्लौर (hi) m (billaur), अमल (hi) m (amal), क्रिस्टल (hi) m (krisṭal) Hungarian: kristály (hu) Icelandic: kristall (is) m, kristallur (is) m Irish: criostal m Italian: cristallo (it) m Japanese: 結晶 (ja) (けっしょう, kesshō) (usual); 水晶 (ja) (すいしょう, suishō), クリスタル (kurisutaru) (quartz) Khmer: ផលិក (km) (phɑlək), ផ្លេក (km) (phleek) Korean: 결정(結晶) (ko) (gyeoljeong), 수정(水晶) (ko) (sujeong) Ladino: kristal, cristal Latin: cristallus f Latvian: kristāls m Lithuanian: kristalas m Macedonian: криста́л m (kristál) Maori: tioata Mongolian: Cyrillic: болор (mn) (bolor) Navajo: tséghádiʼnídínii Norwegian: please add this translation if you can Persian: بلور‎ (fa) (bolur) Polish: kryształ (pl) m Portuguese: cristal (pt) m Romanian: cristal (ro) n Russian: хруста́ль (ru) m (xrustálʹ), го́рный хруста́ль (ru) m (górnyj xrustálʹ) Samogitian: kristals m Sanskrit: अमल (sa) n (amala) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: крѝста̄л m, ле̏дац m Roman: krìstāl (sh) m, lȅdac (sh) m Slovene: kristal (sl) m Spanish: cristal (es) m Swahili: fuwele Swedish: kristall (sv) c Tagalog: kristal (tl) Telugu: స్ఫటికం (te) (sphaṭikaṁ) Thai: ผลึก (th) (pà-lʉ̀k) Tibetan: ཆུ་ཤེལ (chu shel) Turkish: kristal (tr) Vietnamese: pha lê (vi) Welsh: crisial (cy) m

glassware

Armenian: բյուրեղապակի (hy) (byurełapaki) Belarusian: хруста́ль m (xrustálʹ) Bulgarian: криста́л (bg) m (kristál) Chinese: Mandarin: 水晶玻璃 (shuǐjīng bōlí), 玻璃 (zh) (bōlí) Crimean Tatar: büllür Czech: křišťál (cs) m Dutch: kristal (nl) n Esperanto: kvarcvitro, kristalo Finnish: kristalli (fi) Galician: cristal (gl) m Georgian: ბროლი (broli), ბროლის ჭურჭელი (brolis č̣urč̣eli) German: Kristallglas (de) n, Kristall (de) n (neuter, not masculine) Greek: κρύσταλλο (el) n (krýstallo) Hebrew: בְּדוֹלַח‎ (he) m (bdólaḥ) Hindi: क्रिस्टल (hi) m (krisṭal), बिल्लौर (hi) m (billaur), आबगीना (hi) m (ābgīnā) Hungarian: kristály (hu) Irish: criostal m Japanese: クリスタル (kurisutaru), クリスタル・ガラス (kurisutaru-garasu) Khmer: ផលិក (km) (phɑlək) Ladino: kristal, cristal Latin: crystallum n Latvian: kristāls m Macedonian: криста́л m (kristál) Mongolian: Cyrillic: болор (mn) (bolor) Norwegian: Bokmål: krystall m or n Nynorsk: krystall m or n Ottoman Turkish: آبگینه‎ (âbgîne), بلور‎ (billûr) Persian: کریستال‎ (fa) (kristâl) Polish: kryształ (pl) m Portuguese: cristal (pt) m Romanian: cristal (ro) n Russian: хруста́ль (ru) m (xrustálʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: крѝста̄л m, ле̏дац m Roman: krìstāl (sh) m, lȅdac (sh) m Slovene: kristal (sl) m Spanish: cristal (es) Swedish: kristall (sv) c Tagalog: kristal (tl) Thai: ดาลัด, เพชรน้ำค้าง Turkish: kristal (tr) Ukrainian: кришта́ль m (kryštálʹ) Vietnamese: pha lê (vi)

(used attributively)

Arabic: بِلَّوْرِيّ‎ (billawriyy) Dutch: kristallen (nl) Esperanto: kristalo French: de cristal, en cristal Georgian: ბროლის (brolis), კრისტალური (ḳrisṭaluri) Khmer: ផលិក (km) (phɑlək) Latvian: kristāla Norwegian: Bokmål: krystall- Nynorsk: krystall- Russian: криста́льно (ru) (kristálʹno) (adverb)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Latin: (please verify) crystallis

Adjective

crystal (not comparable)

1. Very clear.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i], page 23, column 1–2:

     Thou art a Traitor, and a Miſcreant;
     Too good to be ſo, and too bad to liue,
     Since the more faire and chriſtall is the skie,
     The vglier ſeeme the cloudes that in it flye:

   "Do I make myself clear?" / "Crystal."

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “crystal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.