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”)..

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈəʊpəl/
• 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.
   • 2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎^[1], 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."
3. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus .

Derived terms

Derived terms

• fire opal
• opalesce

• opaline
• wood opal

Translations

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

• Arabic: أُوبَال (ar) m (ʾubāl)
• Catalan: òpal m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蛋白石 (zh) (dànbáishí)

• 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)
• Hungarian: opál (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Icelandic: ópall m
• Italian: opale m or f
• Japanese: オパール (ja) (opāru)
• Korean: 오팔 (ko) (opal)
• Polish: opal (pl) m
• Portuguese: opala (pt) f
• Russian: опа́л (ru) m (opál)
• Slovene: opal (sl) m
• Spanish: ópalo (es) m
• Swedish: opal (sv) c
• Tagalog: opalo
• Thai: โอปอล (oo-bpɔɔl)
• 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

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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

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Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.pal/

• Audio:

  (file)

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

Verb

opal

1. second-person singular imperative of opalić

Further reading

• Template:R:PWN