coral

/ˈkɒɹəl//ˈkɔɹəl/

coral noun: any of many species of marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa, most of which build hard calcium carbonate skeletons and form colonies, or a colony belonging to one of those species. Also the obsolete form of corral.

Image: Yoruno, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

coral (countable and uncountable, plural corals)

(countable) Any of many species of marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa, most of which build hard calcium carbonate skeletons and form colonies, or a colony belonging to one of those species.
(uncountable) A hard substance made of the skeletons of these organisms.
(countable) A somewhat yellowish orange-pink color; the color of red coral (Corallium rubrum) of the Mediterranean Sea, commonly used as an ornament or gem.
- The coral faded even from her lips, till they were as white as Leo's face, and quivered pitifully.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
The ovaries of a cooked lobster; so called from their color.
(historical) A piece of coral, usually fitted with small bells and other appurtenances, used by children as a plaything.
- On the very chair which I used to occupy when I was at work Marian was sitting now, with the child industriously sucking his coral upon her lap.1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White

Adjective

coral (not comparable)

Made of coral.
Having the orange-pink color of coral.

Proper noun capitalized: Coral

Coral

A census-designated place in McHenry County, Illinois, United States.
A female given name from English.
- "Where are you from originally, Coral?" / "Indiana." / "Lots of Corals out there, I bet." / She hesitated, seemed about to flare, and then smiled instead, showing a little gap between two front teeth. "Well, it was Cora Lucille, I guess, " she said, still smiling, looking very much like a Cora...1990, Ed McBain, Vespers, Mandarin, published 1991, →ISBN, page 78

Also used as

coral is also the obsolete form of corral.

coral meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

coral in Hindi

species or colony: मूंगा mūṅgā, मूँगा mūṅgā, प्रवाल pravāl
substance: मूंगा mūṅgā, मूँगा mūṅgā, प्रवाल pravāl
made of coral: मूंगा mūṅgā, मूँगा mūṅgā, प्रवाल pravāl

coral in Tamil

species or colony: பவழம் pavaḻam
substance: பவழம் pavaḻam

coral in Marathi

कोरल, प्रवाळ

coral in Urdu

species or colony: مرجان marjān
substance: مرجان marjān, مونگا mūngā

More languagesFewer languages

coral in Bengali: প্রবাল probal
coral in Telugu: పగడము pagaḍamu
coral in Malayalam: പവിഴം paviḻaṁ
coral in Kannada: ಹವಳ havaḷa
coral in Odia: ପ୍ରବାଳ, ପ୍ରବାଲ
coral in Sanskrit: प्रवाल pravāla, प्रबाल prabāla, विद्रुम vidruma
coral in Sinhala: කොරල් koral
coral in Assamese: পোৱাল püal
coral in Nepali: कोरल, प्रवाल, कोरललाई
coral in Pashto: مرجان marǰãn
coral in Tagalog: sagay
coral in Arabic: مَرْجَان marjān
coral in Malay: batu karang, karang
coral in Indonesian: karang
coral in Persian: مرجان, بسد bosad
coral in Thai: ปะการัง bpà-gaa-rang, กัลปังหา gan-lá-bpang-hǎa
coral in Vietnamese: san hô
coral in Myanmar: သန္တာ santa

Examples of coral in a sentence

The contractors installed a new tank with gorgeous fish and corals.
Once coral bleaching begins, corals tend to continue to bleach even if the stressor is removed.
Coral bleaching threatens to disrupt the population equilibria of the reef’s fishes.

All 40 example sentences with coral

Forms of coral

Noun
plural	corals
Verb
third-person singular present	corals
present participle US	coraling
present participle UK	coralling
past participle US	coraled
past US	coraled
past participle UK	coralled
past UK	coralled

Plural of coral: corals

Origin of coral

From Old French coral (French corail), from Latin corallium, from Ancient Greek κοράλλιον (korállion, “coral”). Probably ultimately of Semitic origin, compare Hebrew גּוֹרָל (goral, “small pebble”), Arabic جَرَل (jaral, “small stone”), originally referring to the red variety found in the Mediterranean. Since ancient times, a common folk etymology, accepted by some earlier scholars, connected the word instead to Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē) (referring to Medusa). Beekes mentions both theories and considers the Semitic one convincing.

From coral.

Words formed from coral

Words that rhyme with coral

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about coral

What does coral mean?: Coral means any of many species of marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa, most of which build hard calcium carbonate skeletons and form colonies, or a colony belonging to one of those species.
What is coral in Hindi?: Coral in Hindi is मूंगा (mūṅgā), मूँगा (mūṅgā), प्रवाल (pravāl). See Coral meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is coral?: Coral can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce coral?: Coral is pronounced /ˈkɒɹəl/ (UK).
What is the plural of coral?: The plural of coral is corals.

Words near coral in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: coral (page history and authors); Coral (page history and authors); coral (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); coral (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); coral (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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-coral.wav, En-coral.ogg.

Cite this entry: “coral.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coral. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.