sapphire
Syllables: sap·phireUK/ˈsæf.aɪ̯ə//ˈsæf.aɪ̯əɹ/
sapphire noun: a clear deep blue variety of corundum, valued as a precious stone.
Noun (1)
sapphire (countable and uncountable, plural sapphires)
- A clear deep blue variety of corundum, valued as a precious stone.
- Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2012, page 128
- A white, yellow, or purple variety of corundum, either clear or translucent.
- A deep blue colour.
- Azure, when blazoning by precious stones.
- Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; […]1720, Francis Nichols, Rudiments of Honour, page 296
- 3. Saphire, ten Bezants, 4, 3, 2, 1, by the Bisset.1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd; Or, an Abridgment of Guillim, page 504
- Any hummingbird in the genera Hylocharis and Chlorestes, as well as the rufous-throated sapphire, which is now in the genus Amazilia.
- Any of the butterflies in the southern Asian lycaenid genus Heliophorus or the African lycaenid genus Iolaus.
Adjective
sapphire (comparative more sapphire, superlative most sapphire)
- of a deep blue colour.
- At about eleven, we uncaged our pigeons, who flew away into the sapphire sky that hung like a sail from the white peaks.1927, Dhan Gopal Mukerji, Gay-Neck, the Story of a Pigeon, E.P. Dutton & Co., page 33
- They awoke to panoramic views of a national park's tropical forests, the Gulf of Paria's shallows and the Caribbean's sparkling sapphire waters.2025 November 8, The Associated Press, “Trump says boat crews are narco-terrorists. The truth is more nuanced, AP finds”, in NPR
- pertaining to a 45th year
Proper noun capitalized: Sapphire
Sapphire
- A female given name from English from the precious stone.
- I asked her once how a little girl who didn't have blue eyes ended up being called Sapphire. She pursed her lips for a few seconds, clearly wondering how she could get away with not telling me.
'My older brother is called Mistral,' she said in the end. 'My younger sister is Blaze. I'd say I was the...2015, Sharon Bolton, Little Black Lies, Corgi Books, →ISBN, page 179
- I asked her once how a little girl who didn't have blue eyes ended up being called Sapphire. She pursed her lips for a few seconds, clearly wondering how she could get away with not telling me.
- A locality in the Inverell council area, north eastern New South Wales, Australia.
Noun (2) capitalized: Sapphire
Sapphire (plural Sapphires)
- A stereotype of an aggressive and domineering black woman.
- When black women speak up about indignities, they are Sapphires. When black women stand up for their rights, they are Sapphires.2010, C. Henderson, Imagining the Black Female Body
- Described as feisty wenches, seductive Jezebels, or loud and angry Sapphires, Black women's public persona has long been dominated by these images.2019, Marquita M. Gammage, Antwanisha Alameen-Shavers, Challenging Misrepresentations of Black Womanhood
sapphire meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sapphire in Hindi
- corundum
- याकूत yākūt, याक़ूत yāqūt, नीलम nīlam, नीलमणि nīlamṇi, इंद्रनील indranīl, कुरुविंद kuruvind
- gem
- नीलम nīlam, इंद्रनील indranīl, नीलमणि nīlamṇi, याकूत yākūt, याक़ूत yāqūt
sapphire in Tamil
- நீலக்கல், நீலமணி
sapphire in Marathi
- gem
- नीळ nīḷ, नीलम nīlam, नीलमणी nīlamṇī, इंद्रनील indranīl
sapphire in Urdu
- gem
- نیلم nīlam
More languagesFewer languages
- sapphire in Bengali
- ইয়াকুত iẏakut
- sapphire in Telugu
- నీలము nīlamu
- sapphire in Malayalam
- ഇന്ദ്രനീലം indranīlaṁ
- sapphire in Kannada
- ನೀಲಮಣಿ nīlamaṇi, ಇಂದ್ರನೀಲ indranīla
- sapphire in Punjabi
- ਨੀਲਮਣਿ
- sapphire in Gujarati
- નીલમ nīlam
- sapphire in Odia
- ନୀଲମଣି
- sapphire in Sanskrit
- इन्द्रनील indranīla
- sapphire in Nepali
- नीलम, नीलमणि
- sapphire in Tagalog
- sapiro
- sapphire in Arabic
- يَاقُوت yāqūt, أَزْرَق يَاقُوتِيّ ʔazraq yāqūtiyy, زَفِير zafīr, يَاقُوت أَزْرَق yāqūt ʔazraq
- sapphire in Malay
- batu nilam, nilakandi
- sapphire in Indonesian
- batu nilam, safir
- sapphire in Persian
- یاقوت کبود yâqut-e kabud, آسمانگونی âsmânguni, آسمانجونی âsmânjuni
- sapphire in Thai
- ไพลิน pai-lin, นิลกาฬ nin-lá-gaan, แซปไฟร์
- sapphire in Vietnamese
- xa-phia
- sapphire in Myanmar
- နီလာ nila
Examples of sapphire in a sentence
- He's a typical gemcutter, mostly diamonds but some emeralds and the occasional sapphire or ruby.
- A pair of very familiar, very emblazoned sapphire blue eyes were watching me.
- The icebergs glowed different shades of blue: turquoise, cerulean, azure, pavonated, sapphire, ultramarine.
Forms of sapphire
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | sapphires |
| plural | Sapphires |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more sapphire |
| superlative | most sapphire |
Origin of sapphire
From Middle English saphir, from Old French saphir, from Latin sapphir, sappir, sapphīrus, from Ancient Greek σάπφειρος (sáppheiros, “precious stone, gem”), from a Semitic language such as Hebrew סַפִּיר (sappī́r, “lapis lazuli”), originally from Assyrian Akkadian šipirtu (“lapis lazuli”).
Words formed from sapphire
- blue-chinned sapphire
- blue-throated sapphire
- Padparadscha sapphire
- pink sapphire
- Sapphire Beach
- sapphireberry
- sapphired
- sapphire glass
- sapphirelike
- sapphiric
- sapphirine
- sea sapphire
- star sapphire
- water sapphire
- white sapphire
- yellow sapphire
- sapphire anniversary
- sapphire jubilee
Phrases with sapphire
Questions about sapphire
- What does sapphire mean?
- Sapphire means a clear deep blue variety of corundum, valued as a precious stone.
- What is sapphire in Hindi?
- Sapphire in Hindi is याकूत (yākūt), याक़ूत (yāqūt), नीलम (nīlam). See Sapphire meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is sapphire?
- Sapphire can be a noun, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce sapphire?
- Sapphire is pronounced /ˈsæf.aɪ̯ə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of sapphire?
- The plural of sapphire is sapphires.
Words near sapphire in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sapphire (page history and authors); Sapphire (page history and authors); sapphire (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ইয়াকুত (Bengali) (page history and authors); నీలము (Telugu) (page history and authors); ഇന്ദ്രനീലം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); sapphire (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); નીલમ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); sapphire (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); sapphire (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-sapphire.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sapphire.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sapphire. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.