onyx
English
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 (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒnɪks
Noun
onyx (countable and uncountable, plural onyxes)
- (mineralogy) A banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz.
- A jet-black color, named after the gemstone.
- onyx:
- Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Horaga.
![](Images/wiktionary/Black_Onyx.jpg.webp)
Black banded onyx
Translations
a banded variety of chalcedony
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Adjective
onyx (not comparable)
- jet-black
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981:, 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 […]
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See also
- sardonyx
References
- Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, Robert K. Barnhart (ed.), Chambers, 1988
Latin
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux, “nail”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈo.nyks/, [ˈɔnʏks̠]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈo.niks/, [ˈɔːniks]
Noun
onyx m (genitive onychis); third declension
- onyx, yellow marble
- A yellowish precious stone
- The female of a mussel of the scallop species
Declension
Third-declension noun.
Case | 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)
- Alternative form of oniche
Portuguese
Noun
onyx m (invariable)
- Obsolete spelling of ónix (used in Portugal until September 1911 and in Brazil until the 1940s).