joyau

French

Etymology

Backformed from Old French joyaus, plural of joyal, variant of jouel, from Latin iocale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒwa.jo/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

joyau m (plural joyaux)

1. jewel (valuable object for ornamentation)
   • 1894, Crafty, À travers Paris, page 45:

     On aurait juré que chacune de ses paroles était un joyau.

     You would have sworn that each of his words was a jewel.

Related terms

• joaillerie
• joaillier

Further reading

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