carbuncle
UK/ˈkɑː.bʌŋ.kl̩//ˈkɑɹˌbʌŋ.kl̩/
carbuncle noun: a deep-red or fiery colored garnet or other dark red precious stone, especially when cut cabochon.
Noun
carbuncle (plural carbuncles)
- A deep-red or fiery colored garnet or other dark red precious stone, especially when cut cabochon.
- With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus […]1602, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act II, scene 2, line 401
- And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 54:12
- A charge or bearing supposed to represent the precious stone, with eight sceptres or staves radiating from a common centre; an escarbuncle.
- An abscess larger than a boil, usually with one or more openings draining pus onto the skin. It is usually caused by staphylococcal infection.
- An unpopular or ugly building; an eyesore.
carbuncle meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
carbuncle in Tamil
- பல்வாய்ப்பிளவை, பிளவை, பிளவைக் கட்டி, ராஜப் பிளவை, கட்டி, மாணிக்கக்கல்
carbuncle in Bengali
- লাল রত্ন, ত্বকের ফোঁড়া
carbuncle in Malayalam
- പ്രമേഹക്കുരു, വിസ്ഫോടനം, മൂക്കിലെ കുരു, ചുവപ്പുനിറമുള്ള രത്നം, മാണിക്യം
carbuncle in Kannada
- ಕುರು, ಕೆಟ್ಟಕುರು, ಬೆನ್ನುಫಣಿ, ರಾಜಹುಣ್ಣು, ಮೊಡವೆ, ಕೆಂಪು ಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಶಿಲೆ
More languagesFewer languages
- carbuncle in Malay
- batu merah, bisul
- carbuncle in Indonesian
- karbunkel
Examples of carbuncle in a sentence
- His turban, or mandil [mandīl], was of finest white silk interwoven with gold, bestudded with pearl[s] and carbuncles; […]1634, Thomas Herbert, A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. Into Afrique and the Greater Asia, especially the Territories...
- These are usually represented as short and stumpy with shaggy hair, dark wrinkled faces, little deep-set eyes, but bright as carbuncles.1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 432:
- A piece of marigold or bay leaf was imbedded in the metal, and over it a carbuncle or chrysolite was placed.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 155:
Forms of carbuncle
| plural | carbuncles |
|---|
Origin of carbuncle
From Middle English carbuncle, charbocle, from Old French carbuncle, charbuncle, from Latin carbunculus (“a small coal; a reddish kind of precious stone; a kind of tumor”), diminutive of carbō (“a coal, charcoal”). Doublet of Garfinkel and Garfunkel.
Words formed from carbuncle
Questions about carbuncle
- What does carbuncle mean?
- Carbuncle means a deep-red or fiery colored garnet or other dark red precious stone, especially when cut cabochon.
- What is carbuncle in Tamil?
- Carbuncle in Tamil is பல்வாய்ப்பிளவை, பிளவை, பிளவைக் கட்டி. See Carbuncle meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use carbuncle in a sentence?
- His turban, or mandil [mandīl], was of finest white silk interwoven with gold, bestudded with pearl[s] and carbuncles; […]
- What part of speech is carbuncle?
- Carbuncle is a noun.
- How do you pronounce carbuncle?
- Carbuncle is pronounced /ˈkɑː.bʌŋ.kl̩/ (UK).
- What is the plural of carbuncle?
- The plural of carbuncle is carbuncles.
Words near carbuncle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: carbuncle (page history and authors); carbuncle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); carbuncle (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); carbuncle (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); carbuncle (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-carbuncle.wav.
Cite this entry: “carbuncle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/carbuncle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.