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.ət/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -æɡət

Noun

agate (countable and uncountable, plural agates)

1. (countable, uncountable, mineralogy) A semi-pellucid, uncrystallized variety of quartz, presenting various tints in the same specimen, with colors delicately arranged in stripes or bands, or blended in clouds.
   • 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Romance and Reality, volume 3, 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.

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

Hyponyms

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

Derived terms

• moss agate
• agate line
• agateware

Related terms

• aggie

Translations

mineral

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

  Egyptian Arabic: عقيق‎ m (ʿaqīq)

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

  Cantonese: 瑪瑙 (maa⁵ nou⁵)

  Hakka: 瑪瑙 (mâ-nó)

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

  Min Dong: 瑪瑙 (mā-nō̤)

  Min Nan: 瑪瑙 (má-ló / má-nó͘ / bé-ló / bée-ló)

  Wu: 瑪瑙 (mo nau)

• Chuvash: а́хах (áhah)
• 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 f
• Georgian: აქატი (akaṭi)
• German: Achat (de) m
• Greek: αχάτης (el) m (achátis)

  Ancient: ἀχάτης m (akhátēs)

• Gujarati: અકીક m (akīk)
• Hebrew: שְׁבוֹ‎ (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 (めのう, menō)
• Kannada: ಅಗೇಟ್ (agēṭ)
• Kazakh: ақық (kk) (aqıq)

• Korean: 마노 (ko) (mano), 아게이트 (ageiteu)
• Kyrgyz: агат (ky) (ağat)
• 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 f
• Ossetian: агат (agat)
• Pashto: عقيق‎ (ps) m
• Persian: عقیق‎ (fa) (aqiq)
• Polish: agat (pl) m
• Portuguese: ágata (pt) f
• Romanian: agat (ro) n
• 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

a- (“on”) +‎ gate (“way”)

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈɡæt/

  • Audio (UK)

    (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, II, or III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], OCLC 3163777:

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

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Basque

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Biscayan) IPA^(key): /aɡate/, [a.ɣ̞a.t̪e̞]

Noun

agate inan

1. (Biscayan) Alternative form of ahate.

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Esperanto

Adverb

agate

1. present adverbial passive participle of agi

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French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

agate m (plural agates)

1. agate

Further reading

• “agate” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Ido

Verb

agate

1. adverbial present passive participle of agar

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Italian

Noun

agate f

1. plural of agata

Anagrams

• Gaeta

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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