Pearl
nounA smooth, lustrous bead formed inside an oyster or mussel, valued as a gem.
How to spell pearl
5 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce pearl
What does pearl mean?
- nounA smooth, lustrous bead formed inside an oyster or mussel, valued as a gem.
Pearl in a sentence
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She fastened the single pearl on a fine silver chain.
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The jeweller graded each pearl by its size and lustre.
Where does pearl come from?
Language of origin: French
Pearl arrived in English in the 1300s from the Old French perle, a word also found across the Romance languages as Italian and Spanish perla. The ultimate source is debated, but it is widely traced to a Vulgar Latin form such as pernula, a diminutive of perna, which literally meant a 'leg' or 'ham' and was applied to a type of leg-shaped sea mussel whose shell yields these gems. Over time the word came to name the smooth, lustrous bead itself, formed inside an oyster or mussel as a defence against an irritating grain of sand. Because the precious thing is so admired, 'pearl' has long been used figuratively for anything rare and valuable. The spelling preserves the French 'ea' followed by 'rl', which is what makes it a homophone of the knitting term 'purl' and a common point of confusion.
How the word is built
- pearl (single root noun, from Old French perle)
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