hammochrysos
/ˌhæməˈkɹaɪsɒs/
hammochrysos noun: a certain stone with spangles of gold color in it, known to Pliny, perhaps golden mica or yellow mica schist.
Noun
hammochrysos (uncountable)
- A certain stone with spangles of gold color in it, known to Pliny, perhaps golden mica or yellow mica schist.
- Nearly everything was glass in the frontage of this fairy mart, and its contents glittered like the hammochrysos stone.1905, Thomas Hardy, The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters, page 375
- A splendid curtain, silver-sewn,
Spangled like hammochrysos stone
Stood in a crypt that dripped delight,
His ear-drums pulsing with that sound
The sheeted waters in their might
Flung to the crags, to mock their thrall.1914, William Rose Benét, The Falconer of God: And Other Poems, page 64
Origin of hammochrysos
From Latin hammochrȳsos, (h)ammochrȳsus, from Ancient Greek ἀμμόχρῡσος (ammókhrūsos), from ἄμμος (ámmos, “sand”) + χρῡσός (khrūsós, “gold”).
Questions about hammochrysos
- What does hammochrysos mean?
- Hammochrysos means a certain stone with spangles of gold color in it, known to Pliny, perhaps golden mica or yellow mica schist.
- What part of speech is hammochrysos?
- Hammochrysos is a noun.
- How do you pronounce hammochrysos?
- Hammochrysos is pronounced /ˌhæməˈkɹaɪsɒs/.
Words near hammochrysos in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hammochrysos (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)-Vealhurl-hammochrysos.wav.
Cite this entry: “hammochrysos.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hammochrysos. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.