opal

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 (upari, “the upper millstone”).^[1].

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊpəl/
• (US) 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 1, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎, 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."

Further reading

• “Opal” in David Barthelmy, Webmineral Mineralogy Database, 1997–.
• opal mindat.org‎, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, accessed 29 August 2016

Anagrams

• OLAP, POLA, Palo, alop

Etymology

From English opal, from French opale, from Latin opalus, from Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem, stone”), from उपरि (upari, “the upper millstone”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: o‧pal

Noun

opal

1. (mineralogy) opal

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.pal/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

opal m inan

1. (mineralogy) opal