crystal

See also: Crystal

English

Alternative forms

• crystall (obsolete)
• chrystal (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 the Proto-Indo-European *krus-, *kru- (“hard, hard outer surface, crust”).

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (CA)

  (file)

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

Synonyms

• (array of atoms): grain

Antonyms

• (array of atoms): amorphous, glass

Derived terms

• anticrystal
• blood crystal
• clear as crystal
• compound crystal
• crystal ball
• Crystal City
• crystal clear
• Crystal Falls
• crystalliferous
• crystalline
• crystallite
• crystallization, crystallisation
• crystallize, crystallise
• crystallographer
• crystalloid
• Crystal Palace
• crystal stone
• Iceland crystal
• mountain crystal
• quasicrystal
• rock crystal

 

Descendants

• → 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 (sphôtik)
• Bulgarian: криста́л (bg) m (kristál)
• Burmese: ပုံဆောင်ခဲ (my) (pumhcaunghkai:)
• Catalan: cristall (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 結晶 (git³ zing¹)

  Hakka: 結晶 (kiet-chîn)

  Mandarin: 結晶 (zh), 结晶 (zh) (jiéjīng)

  Min Nan: 結晶 (zh-min-nan) (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)
• Hungarian: kristály (hu)
• Irish: criostal m
• Italian: cristallo (it) m
• Japanese: 結晶 (ja) (けっしょう, kesshō)
• Kannada: ಸ್ಫಟಿಕ (kn) (sphaṭika)
• Kazakh: кристалл (krïstall)
• Khmer: ផលិក (km) (pleek, plək)
• Korean: 결정 (ko) (gyeoljeong)
• 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, kristal
• Mandaic: ࡁࡉࡋࡀࡅࡓ‎ (bīlawr)
• Maori: kōataata, pīataata, tioata
• Marathi: स्फटिक m (sphaṭik)
• Mongolian: 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: ледац m, кристал m

  Roman: ledac (sh) m, krìstāl (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)
• Telugu: స్ఫటికము (te) (sphaṭikamu)
• Thai: ผลึก (th) (pà-lʉ̀k)
• Tswana: legakwa class 3
• Turkish: kristal (tr), billur (tr), billûr (tr)
• Ukrainian: криста́л m (krystál)
• 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: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: kristály (hu)
• Irish: criostal m
• Italian: cristallo (it) m
• Japanese: 結晶 (ja) (けっしょう, kesshō) (usual); 水晶 (すいしょう, suishō), クリスタル (kurisutaru) (quartz)
• Khmer: ផលិក (km) (pleek, plək)
• Korean: 결정 (ko) (gyeoljeong), 수정 (ko) (sujeong)
• Ladino: kristal, cristal
• Latin: cristallus f

• Latvian: kristāls m
• Lithuanian: kristalas m
• Macedonian: криста́л m (kristál)
• Maori: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: 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 m (górnyj xrustálʹ)
• Samogitian: kristals m
• Sanskrit: अमल (sa) n (amala)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ледац m, кристал m

  Roman: ledac (sh) m, krìstāl (sh) m

• Slovene: kristal (sl) m
• Spanish: cristal (es) m
• Swahili: fuwele
• Swedish: kristall (sv) c
• Telugu: స్ఫటికం (te) (sphaṭikaṃ)
• 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) m
• Greek: κρύσταλλο (el) n (krýstallo)
• Hebrew: בְּדוֹלַח‎ (he) m (bdólaḥ)
• 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) (pleek, plək)
• Ladino: kristal, cristal
• Latin: crystallum n
• Latvian: kristāls m

• Macedonian: криста́л m (kristál)
• Mongolian: 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: ледац m, кристал m

  Roman: ledac (sh) m, krìstāl (sh) m

• Slovene: kristal (sl) m
• Spanish: cristal (es)
• Swedish: kristall (sv) c
• 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) (pleek, plək)

• 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, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. 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: Printed by 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

• “crystal” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2020.