amethyst
/ˈæm.ə.θɪst//ɛm-/
amethyst noun: a transparent purple to violet variety of quartz with traces of manganese, used as a gemstone.
Noun
amethyst (plural amethysts)
- A transparent purple to violet variety of quartz with traces of manganese, used as a gemstone.
- The burning evening sun lighted with mellow gold the coats of the fierce little tiger-kittens — orange silk with stripes of black velvet — the broken amethysts and ruined emeralds of the poor bird's train cruelly scattered over the trampled grass1894, Sir Edwin Arnold, Wandering Words, page 260
- Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2012, page 128
- A purple colour.
- The tincture purpure, when blazoning by precious stones.
- The Field is Topaz, a Lion rampant Amethyst [...]1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd, page 407
- Purple, on the arms of princes Mercury, of peers amethyst, and of commoners purpure, [is represented] by diagonal lines from the sinister chief to the dexter base.1834, The Art of Heraldry; Explaining the Origin and Use of Arms and Armorial Bearings, Etc, page 14
Adjective
amethyst (comparative more amethyst, superlative most amethyst)
- Having a colour similar to that of the gemstone
Proper noun capitalized: Amethyst
Amethyst
- A female given name.
- The Australian rapper Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Amelia Kelly.
amethyst meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
amethyst in Hindi
- gem
- अमेथिस्ट amethisṭ, एमिथिस्ट emithisṭ
amethyst in Tamil
- gem
- செவ்வந்தி cevvanti, செவ்வந்திக்கல் cevvantikkal
amethyst in Marathi
- अमेथिस्ट, एमेथिस्ट, अमेथीस्ट
amethyst in Urdu
- یاقوت, ایک قیمتی پتھر
More languagesFewer languages
- amethyst in Bengali
- অ্যামেথিস্ট, আমেথিস্ট, অ্যামিথিস্ট
- amethyst in Telugu
- అమెథిస్ట్, అమేథిస్ట్, అమెథిస్టు
- amethyst in Malayalam
- അമീഥിസ്റ്റ് amīthisṟṟŭ
- amethyst in Kannada
- ಅಮೆಥಿಸ್ಟ್ amethisṭ
- amethyst in Punjabi
- ਅਮੇਥਿਸਟ, ਅਮੇਥੀਸਟ, ਐਮੇਥੀਸਟ
- amethyst in Gujarati
- એમિથિસ્ટ emithisṭ
- amethyst in Odia
- ଆମେଥିଷ୍ଟ, ଆମେଥିସ୍ଟ, ଆମେଥିଷ୍ଟ୍
- amethyst in Nepali
- एमेथिस्ट, अमेथिस्ट, एमिथिस्ट
- amethyst in Tagalog
- amatista
- amethyst in Arabic
- جَمَشْت jamašt
- amethyst in Malay
- ungu kecubung, ametis, batu kecubung
- amethyst in Indonesian
- ungu kecubung, kecubung, kinyang ungu
- amethyst in Persian
- آمتیست âmetist, گمست gamast, کرکهان karkahân, کرکهن karkahan
- amethyst in Thai
- เขี้ยวหนุมาน kîao-hà-nú-maan
- amethyst in Myanmar
- သီဟိုဠ်နီလာ sihuilnila
Examples of amethyst in a sentence
- I'm not bragging, but I had mica, pyrite, and an amethyst in my collection, oh yea. (Side note to readers: Amethysts, those big purple crystal ones, were a big panty dropper back in the day. […])2015, David Spade, Almost Interesting: The Memoir, HarperCollins, →ISBN:
- The 2d Quarter, Field Sapphire with an inverted Chief, amethyst.1906 (printed), The Beetham Repository, 1770 (eds. William Hutton, John Rawlinson Ford), page 115
Forms of amethyst
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | amethysts |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more amethyst |
| superlative | most amethyst |
Origin of amethyst
From Middle English ametist, from Old French ametiste (French améthyste), from Ancient Greek ἀμέθυστος (améthustos, “not drunk”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + μεθύω (methúō, “to be drunk”), from μέθυ (méthu, “wine”). The name was based on the ancient belief that amethyst gemstones could prevent intoxication. People in ancient Greece and Rome would wear amethyst or drink from cups made of amethyst to ward off the effects of alcohol.
From the gemstone amethyst.
Words formed from amethyst
Phrases with amethyst
Questions about amethyst
- What does amethyst mean?
- Amethyst means a transparent purple to violet variety of quartz with traces of manganese, used as a gemstone.
- What is amethyst in Hindi?
- Amethyst in Hindi is अमेथिस्ट (amethisṭ), एमिथिस्ट (emithisṭ). See Amethyst meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use amethyst in a sentence?
- I'm not bragging, but I had mica, pyrite, and an amethyst in my collection, oh yea. (Side note to readers: Amethysts, those big purple crystal ones, were a big panty dropper back in the day. […])
- What part of speech is amethyst?
- Amethyst can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce amethyst?
- Amethyst is pronounced /ˈæm.ə.θɪst/.
- What is the plural of amethyst?
- The plural of amethyst is amethysts.
Words near amethyst in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: amethyst (page history and authors); Amethyst (page history and authors); amethyst (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); amethyst (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); amethyst (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); amethyst (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); amethyst (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); amethyst (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); amethyst (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-amethyst.ogg.
Cite this entry: “amethyst.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/amethyst. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.