agate

See also: Agate

English

Agate

Etymology 1

From Middle French agathe, from Latin achatēs, from Ancient Greek ἀχάτης (akhátēs, “agate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæɡ.ɪt/
• (weak vowel merger) IPA^(key): /ˈæɡ.ət/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æɡɪt

Noun

agate (countable and uncountable, plural agates)

1. (countable, uncountable, mineralogy) A semitransparent, uncrystallized silicate mineral and semiprecious stone, presenting various tints in the same specimen, with colors delicately arranged and often curved in parallel alternating dark and light stripes or bands, or blended in clouds; various authorities call it a variety of chalcedony, a variety of quartz, or a combination of the two.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 9:

     The ends of the veil, drawn over her head, were embroidered with silver; she had long gold ear-rings; to a rich and large gold chain was suspended a cross set with precious stones; and over the arm of her chair hung a rosary of agate beads.

   • 1947, Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, page 86:

     Yes: living among the cohabations^[sic] of Faust himself, among the litharge and agate and hyacinth and pearls.

2. (uncountable, US printing, dated) The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5+¹⁄₂-point.
3. (countable, typography) One fourteenth of an inch.
4. (countable, obsolete) A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals.
5. (countable) A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.;—so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.
6. (countable) A marble made from agate.
7. (slang, usually in the plural) A testicle.

Synonyms

• (type size): (UK) ruby
• (marble): aggie

Hypernyms

• silica (any mineral of the silica group)

Hyponyms

• (mineralogy): fortification agate, Scotch pebble; moss agate, clouded agate

Derived terms

• agate glass
• agatelike
• agate line
• agate ruler
• agate snail
• agateware
• agatiferous
• agatiform
• agatine
• agatization
• agatize
• agaty
• connie agate
• eye agate
• lace agate
• moss agate

Related terms

• aggie

Translations

mineral

• Afrikaans: agaat
• Albanian: agat m
• Amharic: አጌት m (ʾäget)
• Arabic: عقيق (ar) m (ʕaqīq)

  Egyptian Arabic: عقيق m (ʕaqīq)

  Hijazi Arabic: عَقيق m (ʕagīg)

• Aragonese: agata f
• Armenian: ագաթ (hy) (agatʻ)
• Azerbaijani: əqiq
• Bashkir: аҡыҡ (aqıq)
• Basque: agata
• Belarusian: агат m (ahat)
• Bengali: অকীক (bn) (okik)
• Bulgarian: ахат (bg) m (ahat)
• Burmese: မဟူရာကျောက် (ma.hura-kyauk)
• Catalan: àgata f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 瑪瑙 / 玛瑙 (maa⁵ nou⁵)

  Eastern Min: 瑪瑙 / 玛瑙 (mā-nō̤)

  Hakka: 瑪瑙 / 玛瑙 (mâ-nó)

  Hokkien: 瑪瑙 / 玛瑙 (má-ló / má-nó͘ / bé-ló / bée-ló)

  Mandarin: 白瑪瑙 / 白玛瑙 (báimǎnǎo), 瑪瑙 / 玛瑙 (zh) (mǎnǎo), 文石 (zh) (wénshí)

  Wu: 瑪瑙 / 玛瑙 (⁶mo-nau)

• Chuvash: а́хах (áhah)
• Corsican: agata f
• Crimean Tatar: agat, akik
• Czech: achát (cs) m
• Danish: agat (da) c
• Dutch: agaat (nl) m
• Esperanto: agato
• Estonian: ahhaat (et)
• Finnish: akaatti (fi), agaatti (fi)
• French: agate (fr) f
• Friulian: àghite f
• Galician: ágata (gl) f
• Georgian: აქატი (ka) (akaṭi)
• German: Achat (de) m
• Greek: αχάτης (el) m (achátis)

  Ancient: ἀχάτης m (akhátēs)

• Gujarati: અકીક m (akīk)
• Hebrew: שְׁבוֹ (he) (shvo), אָכָטִיס (achátis)
• Hindi: अकीक (hi) m (akīk), गोमेद (hi) m (gomed), गोमेदक (hi) m (gomedak), गोमेधक (hi) m (gomedhak)
• Hungarian: achát (hu)
• Icelandic: agat m
• Ido: agato (io)
• Indonesian: akik (id)
• Irish: agáit f
• Italian: agata f
• Japanese: 瑪瑙 (ja) (めのう, menō)
• Kannada: ಅಗೇಟ್ (agēṭ)
• Kazakh: ақық (kk) (aqyq)
• Korean: 마노 (ko) (mano), 아게이트 (ageiteu)
• Kyrgyz: агат (ky) (agat)
• Latin: achātēs (la) m
• Latvian: ahāts m
• Lezgi: гьакьекь (haq̇eq̇)
• Limburgish: agaot
• Lithuanian: agatas m
• Lushootseed: dxʷʔət̕əb č̓ƛ̕aʔ
• Macedonian: ахат m (ahat)
• Malay: akik (ms), agat
• Malayalam: അഗേറ്റ് (agēṟṟŭ)
• Manx: agaid f
• Mongolian: гартаам (mn) (gartaam)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: agat (no) m

  Nynorsk: agat m

• Occitan: agata (oc) f
• Ossetian: агат (agat)
• Pashto: عقيق (ps) m
• Persian: عقیق (fa) ('aqiq)
• Polish: agat (pl) m
• Portuguese: ágata (pt) f
• Romanian: agat (ro) n, agată (ro) f
• Russian: ага́т (ru) m (agát)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: а̏ха̄т m

  Roman: ȁhāt (sh) m

• Slovak: achát (sk) m
• Slovene: ahat (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: achat m

  Upper Sorbian: agat m

• Spanish: ágata (es) f
• Swahili: kalkedoni
• Swedish: agat (sv) c
• Tagalog: agata
• Tajik: ақиқ (aqiq)
• Tatar: ахак (tt) (axaq)
• Thai: โมรา (moo-raa), อะเกต (à-gàyt)
• Turkish: akik (tr), agat (tr)
• Turkmen: agat (tk)
• Ukrainian: ага́т (uk) m (ahát)
• Urdu: عقیق m (aqīq)
• Uyghur: ھېقىق (hëqiq)
• Uzbek: aqiq (uz)
• Vietnamese: mã não (vi)
• Welsh: agat m, agatau m pl
• Western Panjabi: عقیق (pnb) (aqīq)
• Yakut: агаат (agaat)
• Yiddish: אַגאַט m (agat)

5½-point type

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 七 (zh) (qī)

• Spanish: ágata (es) f

Etymology 2

From Late Middle English agate, a gate. Equivalent to a- (“on”) +‎ gate (“way, path”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈɡeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Adverb

agate (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) On the way; agoing.
   • 1554, Interlude of Youth:

     Go to it then hardily, and let us be agate.

   • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:

     I'm fear'd you have some ill plans agate.

Basque

Etymology

From Proto-Basque *anate, from Latin anatem (“duck”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aɡate/ [a.ɣ̞a.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ate, -e
• Hyphenation: a‧ga‧te

Noun

agate inan

1. (Biscayan) alternative form of ahate

Esperanto

Adverb

agate

1. present adverbial passive participle of agi

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ɡat/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

Noun

agate f (plural agates)

1. agate

Further reading

• “agate”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Ido

Verb

agate

1. adverbial present passive participle of agar

Italian

Noun

agate f

1. plural of agata

Anagrams

• Gaeta

Mezquital Otomi

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish ágata, from Old French agathe, from Latin achates, from Ancient Greek ἀχάτης (akhátēs).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ǎɣáte/

Noun

ǎgáte

1. agate

References

• Hernández Cruz, Luis; Victoria Torquemada, Moisés (2010), Diccionario del hñähñu (otomí) del Valle del Mezquital, estado de Hidalgo (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 45)‎^[1] (in Spanish), second edition, Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 3

Middle English

Etymology

From a (“on”) +‎ gate (“way, path”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈɡaːt(ə)/

Adverb

agate (Late Middle English, rare)

1. straight away, immediately
2. on the way, while travelling

Descendants

• English: agate
• Middle Scots: agait, agate
  • Scots: agate, agait

References

• “agāte, adv..”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Scots

Alternative forms

• agait

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Scots agate, agait, from Middle English agate; equivalent to a- (“on”) +‎ gate

Adverb

agate (not comparable)

1. On the road, afoot, going about
2. away

References

• “agate, adv.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.