Zircon - Definitions from Dictionary.com

7 results for: Zircon

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

zir·con

Audio Help [zur-kon] Pronunciation Key

–noun

a common mineral, zirconium silicate, ZrSiO₄, occurring in small tetragonal crystals or grains of various colors, usually opaque: used as a refractory when opaque and as a gem when transparent.

[Origin: 1785–95; < G Zirkon; see jargon²

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Zircon

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

zir·con Audio Help (zûr'kŏn') Pronunciation Key
n. A brown to colorless mineral, ZrSiO₄, which is heated, cut, and polished to form a brilliant blue-white gem.

[German Zirkon, from Arabic siriqun, from Greek surikon, from Persian āzargūn, fire color : āzar, fire (from Middle Persian ādur, from Old Persian *ātar, āç-, in Āçiyādiya, fire-worship month; see āter- in Indo-European roots) + -gūn, color (from Middle Persian; akin to Avestan gaonəm, hair, complexion (second sense unattested)).]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
zircon

1794, from Ger. Zirkon (cf. Fr. jargon, It. giargone), from Arabic zarqun "cinnabar, bright red," from Pers. zargun "gold-colored," from Avestan zari- "gold-colored," from zar "gold." Zirconium, metallic chemical element, first attested 1808, coined by Ger. chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743-1817) in 1789; so called because it was found in zircon.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

zircon
noun
a common mineral occurring in small crystals; chief source of zirconium; used as a refractory when opaque and as a gem when transparent

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

zircon Audio Help (zûr'kŏn') Pronunciation Key
A brown, reddish to bluish, gray, green, or colorless tetragonal mineral that occurs in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, and especially in sand. The colorless varieties are valued as gems. Chemical formula: ZrSiO₄.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Zircon

Hy"a*cinth\, n. [L. hyacinthus a kind of flower, prob. the iris, gladiolus, or larkspur, also a kind of gem, perh. the sapphire; as, a proper name, Hyacinthus, a beautiful Laconian youth, beloved by Apollo, fr. Gr. ?, ?: cf. F. hyacinthe. Cf. Jacinth. The hyacinth was fabled to have sprung from the blood of Hyacinthus, who was accidentally slain by Apollo.]

1. (Bot.) (a) A bulbous plant of the genus Hyacinthus, bearing beautiful spikes of fragrant flowers. H. orientalis is a common variety. (b) A plant of the genus Camassia (C. Farseri), called also Eastern camass; wild hyacinth. (c) The name also given to Scilla Peruviana, a Mediterranean plant, one variety of which produces white, and another blue, flowers; -- called also, from a mistake as to its origin, Hyacinth of Peru.

2. (Min.) A red variety of zircon, sometimes used as a gem. See Zircon.

Hyacinth bean (Bot.), a climbing leguminous plant (Dolichos Lablab), related to the true bean. It has dark purple flowers and fruit.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

zircon

zircon: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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