Emerald

How to spell emerald

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce emerald

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does emerald mean?

1. nounA bright green precious stone, a variety of beryl prized in fine jewellery.
2. adjectiveOf a rich, bright green colour resembling the gemstone.

Emerald in a sentence

• noun

  The antique ring held a single flawless emerald.

• adjective

  The hills turned a vivid emerald green after the spring rains.

• noun

  The jeweller valued the emerald far above the surrounding diamonds.

• adjective

  She chose an emerald dress for the evening reception.

Where does emerald come from?

Language of origin: Greek

This word traces back to the Greek smaragdos, a general term for a green precious stone, which itself may have come from a Semitic source related to a verb meaning 'to shine' or 'to gleam'. The Greek word passed into Latin as smaragdus, and over centuries of spoken use the awkward opening cluster softened: the 's' was reanalysed and an extra vowel crept in, giving the medieval Latin and Old French forms esmeralde and emeraude. English borrowed it from Old French in the 1200s, and the spelling eventually settled with the 'e' at the front and a single 'l' before the 'd'. The familiar Spanish city and province name Esmeraldas and the personal name Esmeralda share the very same root. The main spelling trap today is the unstressed middle, which sounds like a vague 'er' or schwa, so writers sometimes lose track of the vowels and the order of the letters in 'emer-ald'.

How the word is built

• emerald (a single root borrowed whole, from Greek smaragdos 'green gem'; no separable English prefix or suffix)