sapphire
See also: Sapphire
English
Etymology
From Middle English saphir, from Old French saphir, from Latin sapphir, sappir, sapphīrus,[1] from Ancient Greek σάπφειρος (sáppheiros, “precious stone, gem”),[2][3] from a Semitic language (compare Hebrew סַפִּיר (sappī́r)[4]), perhaps ultimately from a non-Semitic source such as Sanskrit शनिप्रिय (śanipriya, “dark-colored stone”, literally “dear to Saturn”)[5].
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈsæf.aɪ̯ə(ɹ)/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈsæf.aɪ̯ɚ/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: sap‧phire
Noun
sapphire (countable and uncountable, plural sapphires)
- (countable) A clear deep blue variety of corundum, valued as a precious stone.
- 2012 March 1, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 June 2012, retrieved 17 May 2013, 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.
-
- (countable and uncountable) A white, yellow, or purple variety of corundum, either clear or translucent.
- (countable and uncountable) A deep blue colour.
- sapphire:
- (countable) Any hummingbird in the genera Hylocharis and Chlorestes, as well as the rufous-throated sapphire, which is now in the genus Amazilia.
- Any of the butterflies in the southern Asian lycaenid genus Heliophorus.
Derived terms
Derived terms
- blue-chinned sapphire
- blue-throated sapphire
- Padparadscha sapphire
- pink sapphire
- sapphirine
- star sapphire
- water sapphire
- white sapphire
- yellow sapphire
Descendants
- → Tokelauan: hafaila
- → Welsh: saffir
Translations
gem
|
corundum
|
colour
|
type of hummingbird
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See also
- corundum
Adjective
sapphire (comparative more sapphire, superlative most sapphire)
- of a deep blue colour.
- pertaining to a 45th year
Derived terms
(45 years):
- sapphire anniversary
- sapphire jubilee
Translations
colour
|
See also
- (blues) blue; Alice blue, aqua, aquamarine, azure, baby blue, beryl, bice, bice blue, blue green, blue violet, blueberry, cadet blue, Cambridge blue, cerulean, cobalt blue, Copenhagen blue, cornflower, cornflower blue, cyan, dark blue, Dodger blue, duck-egg blue, eggshell blue, electric-blue, gentian blue, ice blue, lapis lazuli, light blue, lovat, mazarine, midnight blue, navy, Nile blue, Oxford blue, peacock blue, petrol blue, powder blue, Prussian blue, robin's-egg blue, royal blue, sapphire, saxe blue, slate blue, sky blue, teal, turquoise, ultramarine, Wedgwood blue, zaffre (Category: en:Blues)
- Sapphire
Further reading
- David Barthelmy (1997–2023), “Sapphire”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
- “sapphire”, in Mindat.org, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2023.
- “sapphīrus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “σάπφειρος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- G4552 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- H5601 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- Monier Williams (1899), “sapphire”, in A Sanskrit–English Dictionary, […], new edition, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, OCLC 458052227, page 1051/3.
Anagrams
- paperish, papisher
Latin
Noun
sapphīre f
- vocative singular of sapphīrus
References
- “sapphire”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers