opal

See also: Opal, opál, ópal, òpal, and opał

English

Banded opal, a variety of opal (1)

Etymology

In Florio’s A World of Words 1598 as opale, from French opale, from Latin opalus, from Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem, stone”), from उपरि (upári, “the upper millstone”). Distantly related to over.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊpəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊpəl/
• Rhymes: -əʊpəl

Noun

opal (plural opals)

1. (mineralogy) A mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity, of the chemical formula SiO₂·nH₂O.
   1. (gemology) A precious gem, an iridescent gemstone found in the opal-silica mineral substrate (potch)
   • 2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎^[1], 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 […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)

2. (biology, genetics, biochemistry) A colloquial name used in molecular biology referring to a particular stop codon sequence, "UGA."
3. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Nesolycaena.

Derived terms

• boulder opal
• fire opal
• jasper opal
• opal aura
• opalesce
• opal glass
• opaline
• opal pineapple
• opalware
• pineapple opal
• wood opal

 

Translations

a mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity

• Arabic: أُوبَال (ar) m (ʔubāl)
• Azerbaijani: opal
• Bulgarian: опал m (opal)
• Catalan: òpal m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蛋白石 (zh) (dànbáishí), 歐泊／欧泊 (zh) (ōubó)

• Czech: opál (cs) m
• Dutch: opaal (nl)
• Esperanto: opalo
• Estonian: opaal
• Finnish: opaali (fi)
• French: opale (fr) f
• German: Opal (de) m
• Greek: οπάλι n (opáli)
• Hebrew: לֶשֶׁם (he) m (léshem)
• Hungarian: opál (hu)
• Icelandic: ópall m
• Italian: opale m or f
• Japanese: オパール (ja) (opāru)
• Kazakh: опал (opal)
• Korean: 오팔 (ko) (opal), 단백석(蛋白石) (ko) (danbaekseok)
• Latin: opalus m
• Macedonian: опал m (opal)
• Marathi: ओपल n (opal)
• Persian: اپال (opâl)
• Polish: opal (pl) m
• Portuguese: opala (pt) f
• Romanian: opal (ro) n
• Russian: опа́л (ru) m (opál)
• Slovene: opal (sl) m
• Spanish: ópalo (es) m
• Swedish: opal (sv) c
• Tagalog: opalo
• Tamil: அமுதக்கல் (amutakkal)
• Thai: โอปอล (oo-bpɔɔl)
• Turkish: opal (tr)
• Vietnamese: opan, ngọc mắt mèo, miêu nhãn thạch
• Welsh: opal m, fflamfaen m, fflamfeini m pl

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Opal”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “opal”, in Mindat.org‎^[2], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.

Anagrams

• OLAP, POLA, Palo, alop, aplo-, pola

Cebuano

Etymology

From English opal, from French opale, from Latin opalus, from Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem, stone”), from उपरि (upári, “the upper millstone”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: o‧pal

Noun

opal

1. (mineralogy) opal

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.pal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔpal
• Syllabification: o‧pal

Etymology 1

Noun

opal m inan

1. (mineralogy) opal

Declension

Declension of opal

	singular	plural
nominative	opal	opale
genitive	opalu	opali
dative	opalowi	opalom
accusative	opal	opale
instrumental	opalem	opalami
locative	opalu	opalach
vocative	opalu	opale

Derived terms

adjective

• opalowy

 

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

opal

1. second-person singular imperative of opalić

Further reading

• opal in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• opal in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Opal or Latin opalus or French opale.

Noun

opal n (plural opale)

1. (mineralogy) opal

Declension

Declension of opal

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) opal	opalul	(niște) opale	opalele
genitive/dative	(unui) opal	opalului	(unor) opale	opalelor
vocative	opalule		opalelor