Diamonds

How to spell diamonds

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce diamonds

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does diamonds mean?

1. nounPrecious clear gemstones made of crystallised carbon, prized for hardness and brilliance.
2. nounOne of the four suits in a standard deck of playing cards, marked with red rhombus symbols.
3. nounRhombus shapes resembling a square balanced on one corner.

Diamonds in a sentence

• The jeweller appraised the loose diamonds under a bright lamp.

• She held three diamonds and a single club after the deal.

• The quilt was sewn from small fabric diamonds in alternating colours.

• Insurance for the diamonds in the safe cost a small fortune.

• The trump card that round was the queen of diamonds.

• The wallpaper pattern repeated rows of tiny diamonds.

Where does diamonds come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek adamas, which literally meant 'unconquerable' or 'invincible', a name given to the hardest substance the ancient world knew. The same root gives us 'adamant', the stubborn refusal to be moved. In Late Latin the form softened into diamas (and the variant adiamantem), and from there it passed into Old French as diamant before reaching English in the 1300s. The shift from a hard 'd-m-nt' shape to the familiar 'diamond' came through centuries of pronunciation drift, which is exactly why the spelling hides an easily forgotten middle vowel: many adults mouth it as 'di-mond' yet must write the 'a' in di-A-mond. The plural simply adds -s for the gems, the card suit, or the rhombus shapes.

How the word is built

• diamond (from Greek adamas: unconquerable, hardest substance)
• -s (plural)