spinel

/spɪˈnɛl/

spinel noun: any of several hard minerals of cubic symmetry that are mixed oxides of magnesium and aluminium and are used as gemstones of various colours.

Image: S kitahashi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

spinel (countable and uncountable, plural spinels)

Any of several hard minerals of cubic symmetry that are mixed oxides of magnesium and aluminium and are used as gemstones of various colours.
- 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
(solid state chemistry) Any crystalline material, not necessarily an oxide, that possesses the same crystal structure as this mineral.

Noun (2)

spinel (countable and uncountable, plural spinels)

(obsolete) Spindle; the amount of yarn that fits on a spindle.
- […] raised the price of that staple of yarn (of one Spinel in the pound weight) from 23d. to 26d. per Spinel.1726, Lindsay, pamphlet, quoted in 1920, John Horner, The Linen Trade of Europe During the Spinning-wheel Period, page 269
- 339, 612 yards of dimities, muslinets, jaconets, and booked muslins, from rod. to 20s. per yard, and, 4000. spinels of thread and yarn, were bleached by him in 1791, and 45 people were employed in the work.1795, Sir John Sinclair, The Statistical Account of Scotland: Drawn Up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes. By Sir John Sinclair, ..., page 70

spinel meaning in Tamil, Sinhala, Arabic and Persian

spinel in Tamil

சிபினல்

spinel in Sinhala

any of several hard minerals of cubic symmetry that are mixed oxides of magnesium and aluminium: කිරිංචි kiriṁci

spinel in Arabic

any of several hard minerals of cubic symmetry that are mixed oxides of magnesium and aluminium: لَعْل laʕl, إِسْبِينِل ʔisbīnil

spinel in Persian

any of several hard minerals of cubic symmetry that are mixed oxides of magnesium and aluminium: لعل la'l, لال lâl

More languagesFewer languages

spinel in Thai: สปิเนล
spinel in Myanmar: အညံ့ပန်း a.nyam.pan:

Forms of spinel

plural	spinels
alternative form	spinelle

Origin of spinel

French spinelle, perhaps from Latin spina (“a thorn, a prickle”), in allusion to its pointed crystals.

From Middle English spinel, from Old English spinel (“spindle; the amount of yard on a spindle”), whence also the usual modern form, English spindle.

Words formed from spinel

Words that rhyme with spinel

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about spinel

What does spinel mean?: Spinel means any of several hard minerals of cubic symmetry that are mixed oxides of magnesium and aluminium and are used as gemstones of various colours.
What is spinel in Tamil?: Spinel in Tamil is சிபினல். See Spinel meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is spinel?: Spinel is a noun.
How do you pronounce spinel?: Spinel is pronounced /spɪˈnɛl/ (UK).
What is the plural of spinel?: The plural of spinel is spinels.

Words near spinel in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: spinel (page history and authors); spinel (Tamil 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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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

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