onyx

English

Etymology

From Middle English onix (c. 1300), earlier oniche (c. 1250), from Old French oniche or onix, from Latin onyx, from Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux, “onyx”). Doublet of unguis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒnɪks/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒnɪks

Noun

onyx (countable and uncountable, plural onyxes)

2. (mineralogy) A banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz.
   • 2023 September 23, Tom Robbins, “Suite dreams”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:

     People talk about using marble in the bathrooms. Marble wasn't good enough for use—we have onyx!

3. A jet-black color, named after the gemstone.

   onyx:  

   Near-synonyms: ebony, raven

4. Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Horaga.

Derived terms

• onyx marble

Black banded onyx

Translations

a banded variety of chalcedony

• Arabic: جَزْع (jazʕ)
• Armenian: օնիքս (hy) (ōnikʻs)
• Basque: onize
• Breton: oniks (br)
• Bulgarian: оникс m (oniks)
• Catalan: ònix m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 縞瑪瑙 / 缟玛瑙 (zh) (gǎomǎnǎo), 紅璧璽 / 红璧玺 (zh) (hóngbìxǐ)

• Czech: onyx (cs) m
• Danish: onyks
• Dutch: onyx (nl) m
• Emilian: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: oonüks
• Finnish: onyksi (fi)
• French: onyx (fr) m
• Friulian: please add this translation if you can
• Galician: ónix f
• Georgian: ონიქსი (ka) (oniksi)
• German: Onyx (de) m
• Hebrew: שֹׁהַם (he) m (shóham)
• Hindi: सुलैमानी पत्थर (sulaimānī patthar)
• Ido: onixo (io)
• Irish: oinisc f
• Italian: onice (it) f
• Japanese: オニキス (onikisu), オニックス (onikkusu)
• Korean: 오닉스 (onikseu)
• Latin: onyx m or f
• Latvian: onikss
• Ligurian: onice
• Lithuanian: oniksas
• Lombard: onix
• Māori: onika
• Marathi: ऑनिक्स m (ŏniksa)
• Norwegian: onyx m
• Occitan: onix m
• Odia: [script needed] (kwaja pathara)
• Persian: عقیق سلیمانی ('aqiq-e soleymâni)
• Piedmontese: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: onyks (pl) m
• Portuguese: ónix (pt)
• Romagnol: please add this translation if you can
• Romanian: onix (ro) m
• Russian: о́никс (ru) m (óniks)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: оникс m

  Latin: oniks (sh) m

• Slovene: óniks (sl) m
• Spanish: ónix (es) f, ónice (es) f, ónique (es) f
• Swahili: sardoniki
• Tagalog: oniks
• Thai: โอนิกซ์ (oo-ník)
• Turkish: oniks (tr)
• Ukrainian: о́нікс m (óniks)
• Urdu: سلیمانی پتھر (sulaimānī patthar)
• Welsh: onics m

Adjective

onyx (not comparable)

1. Jet-black; often, glossily so.

   Near-synonyms: ebony, raven

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:
     , Genesis, 2:12

     And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/7/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎^[1]:

     There was no moon, only stars set brilliantly in the soft black onyx of the sky : a black night and very silent on Cimiez ; and a black and silent prospect from the verandah […]

See also

• sardonyx

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₃nṓgʰs

Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ-

Ancient Greek ὄνῠξ (ónŭx)der.

Latin onyx

Derived from Ancient Greek ὄνῠξ (ónŭx, “nail”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɔ.nyks]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈɔː.niks]

Noun

onyx m (genitive onychis or onychos); third declension

1. onyx (yellow marble)
2. a yellowish precious stone
3. the female of a mussel of the scallop species

Declension

Third-declension noun (non-Greek-type or Greek-type, normal variant).

	singular	plural
nominative	onyx	onychē̆s
genitive	onychis onychos	onychum
dative	onychī	onychibus
accusative	onychem onycha	onychēs onychas
ablative	onyche	onychibus
vocative	onyx	onychē̆s

Related terms

• iasponyx
• perionyx
• sardonyx

References

• “onyx”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “onyx”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “onyx”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “onyx”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Middle English

Noun

onyx

1. alternative form of oniche

Portuguese

Noun

onyx m (invariable)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of ónix