opal

See also Opal, òpal, opál, and opał

English

Wikipedia

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 (opallios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem”, “stone”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈəʊpəl/, X-SAMPA: /"@Up@l/
• (US) IPA: /ˈoʊpəl/, X-SAMPA: /"oUp@l/
• 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.
   • 2012 March 1, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, 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."

Derived terms

• fire opal
• wood opal
• opaline
• opalesce

Translations

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

• Arabic: أوبال (ar) ('ubaal) m
• Catalan: òpal (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蛋白石 (cmn) (dànbáishí)

• Czech: opál (cs) m
• Dutch: opaal (nl)
• Esperanto: opalo (eo)
• Estonian: opaal (et)
• Finnish: opaali (fi)
• French: opale (fr) f
• German: Opal (de) m
• Greek: οπάλι (el) (opáli) n

• Hungarian: opál (hu)
• Icelandic: ópall (is) m
• Italian: opale (it) m and f
• Japanese: オパール (ja) (opāru)
• Korean: 오팔 (ko) (opal)
• Polish: opal (pl) m
• Portuguese: opala (pt) f
• Russian: опал (ru) (opál) m
• Slovene: opal (sl) m
• Spanish: ópalo (es) m
• Swedish: opal (sv) c

Anagrams

• OLAP

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Polish

Wikipedia ^pl

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

opal m

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

• opalowy