ruby

See also: Ruby

English

A ruby (gem).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹuː.bi/
• Rhymes: -uːbi

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English ruby, rube, from Old French rubi, from Latin rubeus (“red”).

Noun

ruby (countable and uncountable, plural rubies)

1. A clear, deep, red variety of corundum, valued as a precious stone.
   • 2012 March 1, 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 diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.

2. (obsolete) A red spinel.
3. A deep red colour.

   ruby:  

   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iv]:

     the natural ruby of your cheeks

4. (heraldry) The tincture red or gules.
5. (uncountable, printing, UK, dated) The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5½-point.

   Synonym: (US) agate

6. A ruby hummer, a South American hummingbird, Clytolaema rubricauda.
7. A red bird-of-paradise, Paradisaea rubra.

Derived terms

• balas ruby
• Colorado ruby
• rubasse
• rubious
• rubric
• ruby port
• ruby spinel
• ruby-throated hummingbird
• ruby wedding
• star ruby

 

Related terms

• corundum
• rouge
• rubicund
• rubric
• rufous
• russet

 

Translations

type of gem

• Afrikaans: robyn
• Albanian: rubin (sq) m
• Arabic: يَاقُوت‎ (ar) m (yāqūt)
• Armenian: սուտակ (hy) (sutak)
• Assamese: মাণিক (manik), ডালিমা (dalima), চুনী (suni)
• Asturian: rubín m
• Azerbaijani: yaqut (az), rubin
• Belarusian: рубі́н m (rubín)
• Bulgarian: руби́н (bg) m (rubín), рубинено червено (rubineno červeno)
• Burmese: ကျောက်နီ (my) (kyaukni)
• Catalan: robí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 紅寶石 (zh), 红宝石 (zh) (hóngbǎoshí)

• Crimean Tatar: yahut, qan taş
• Czech: rubín (cs) m
• Danish: rubin c
• Dutch: robijn (nl) m or n
• Esperanto: rubeno (eo)
• Estonian: rubiin
• Faroese: rubinur m
• Finnish: rubiini (fi)
• French: rubis (fr) m
• Friulian: rubin m
• Galician: rubí m
• Georgian: ლალი (ka) (lali), ბადახში (ka) (badaxši)
• German: Rubin (de) m
• Greek: ρουμπίνι (el) n (roumpíni)

  Ancient: καρχηδόνιος m (karkhēdónios)

• Hebrew: אֹדֶם‎ (he) m (ódem)
• Hindi: मानिक (hi) m (mānik), माणिक्य (hi) m (māṇikya), याक़ूत m (yāqūt), याकूत (hi) m (yākūt), लाल (hi) m (lāl), चूनी (hi) f (cūnī), चुन्नी (hi) f (cunnī)
• Hungarian: rubin (hu)
• Icelandic: rúbín m
• Indonesian: mirah (id)
• Irish: rúibín m
• Italian: rubino (it) m
• Japanese: ルビー (ja) (rubī)
• Kazakh: рубин (rwbïn), лағыл (lağıl)
• Khmer: ត្បូងទទឹម (tboong tɔtɨm), ទទឹម (km) (tɔtɨm)
• Korean: 루비 (ko) (rubi)

• Latin: rubinus m
• Latvian: rubīns m
• Laz: მჭითა თოლი (mč̣ita toli)
• Lezgi: лаал (laal)
• Lithuanian: rubinas m
• Malay: delima, bakam
• Maori: rūpi
• Mingrelian: ლალი (lali)
• Mongolian: бадмаараг (mn) (badmaarag)
• Norman: rubis m
• Norwegian: rubin (no) m
• Persian: یاقوت‎ (fa) (yâqut), یاکند‎ (fa) (yâkand)
• Polish: rubin (pl) m
• Portuguese: rubi (pt) m
• Romanian: rubin (ro) n
• Russian: руби́н (ru) m (rubín)
• Sanskrit: माणिक्य (sa) n (māṇikya)
• Scottish Gaelic: rùbaidh f, dearg-sheud m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ру̀бӣн m

  Roman: rùbīn (sh) m

• Sinhalese: රතුකැට (ratukæṭa)
• Slovak: rubín (sk) m
• Slovene: rubin (sl) m
• Spanish: rubí (es) m
• Svan: ლა̈ლ (läl)
• Swahili: yakuti 9 or 10
• Swedish: rubin (sv) c
• Tabasaran: якьут (jaq̇ut)
• Tagalog: rubi
• Tajik: ёқут (yoqut)
• Telugu: కెంపు (te) (kempu)
• Thai: ทับทิม (th) (táp-tim)
• Turkish: yakut (tr)
• Ukrainian: рубі́н m (rubín)
• Urdu: یاقوت‎ (ur) ? (yāqūt)
• Uyghur: ياقۇت‎ (yaqut)
• Uzbek: yoqut (uz)
• Vietnamese: hồng ngọc
• Volapük: rubain
• Welsh: rhuddem m or f
• Yiddish: רובין‎ m (rubin)

colour

• Dutch: robijnrood (nl) ?
• Finnish: rubiininpunainen
• Georgian: წითელი ფერი (c̣iteli peri)
• German: Weinrot n, Rubinrot n
• Hungarian: rubinvörös
• Icelandic: rúbínrauður m (adjective)

• Romanian: rubiniu (ro) n
• Russian: руби́новый (ru) (rubínovyj)
• Turkish: yakudî
• Ukrainian: рубі́новий m (rubínovyj)
• Volapük: rubainaköl

5½-point type — see agate

Adjective

ruby (comparative more ruby, superlative most ruby)

1. Of a deep red colour.

Translations

of a deep red colour

• Bulgarian: рубинен (rubinen)
• Finnish: rubiininpunainen
• German: weinrot (de), rubinrot (de), tiefrot
• Icelandic: rúbínrauður

• Polish: rubinowy (pl)
• Romanian: rubiniu (ro)
• Volapük: rubainakölik

Verb

ruby (third-person singular simple present rubies, present participle rubying, simple past and past participle rubied)

1. (transitive, poetic) To make red; to redden.
   • 1725, Homer; [Alexander Pope], transl., “Book 20”, in The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume V, London: […] Bernard Lintot, OCLC 8736646:

     With sanguine drops the walls are rubied

See also

• (reds) red; blood red, brick red, burgundy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, cerise, cherry, cherry red, Chinese red, cinnabar, claret, crimson, damask, fire brick, fire engine red, flame, flamingo, fuchsia, garnet, geranium, gules, hot pink, incarnadine, Indian red, magenta, maroon, misty rose, nacarat, oxblood, pillar-box red, pink, Pompeian red, poppy, raspberry, red violet, rose, rouge, ruby, ruddy, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, shocking pink, stammel, strawberry, Turkey red, Venetian red, vermillion, vinaceous, vinous, violet red, wine ^{(Category: en:Reds)}
• carbuncle
• corundum
• spinel
• Ruby on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2022), “Ruby”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “ruby”, in Mindat.org‎^[2], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2022.

Etymology 2

From the British 5.5-point font Ruby, used for annotations in printed documents.

Noun

ruby (plural rubies)

2. A pronunciation guide written above or beside Chinese or Japanese characters.

   Synonym: rubi

Translations

pronunciation guide

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 註音 (zh), 注音 (zh) (zhùyīn), 標音 (zh), 标音 (zh) (biāoyīn)

• Japanese: 振り仮名 (ja) (ふりがな, furigana), ルビ (ja) (rubi)
• Russian: ага́т (ru) m (agát), (indeclinable) ру́би (ru) m (rúbi)

See also

• furigana
• pinyin
• yomigana
• Zhuyin

 

Ruby characters on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• -bury, Bury, bury

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈrubɪ]

Noun

ruby

1. nominative/accusative/vocative/instrumental plural of rub

---

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French rubi, itself borrowed from Latin rubeus.

Alternative forms

• rebe, ribe, rube, rubee, rubie, rybe, ryby

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈriu̯biː/, /ˈriu̯beː/

Noun

ruby (plural rubies)

1. A ruby (red precious stone)
2. (figuratively) A precious individual.

Descendants

• English: ruby

References

• “rubī(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Verb

ruby

1. Alternative form of robben

---

Silesian

Alternative forms

• hruby

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *grubъ.

Adjective

ruby

1. fat, thick