coral
English

Etymology
From Old French coral (French corail), from Latin corallium, from Ancient Greek κοράλλιον (korállion, “coral”). Probably ultimately of Semitic origin,[1] compare Hebrew גּוֹרָל (goral, “small pebble”), Arabic جَرَل (ǧaral, “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).[2][3][4] Beekes mentions both theories and considers the Semitic one convincing.[5]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɒɹəl/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɔɹəl/
- Homophone: choral
- Rhymes: -ɒɹəl
Noun
coral (countable and uncountable, plural corals)
- (uncountable) A hard substance made of the limestone skeletons of marine polyps.
- (countable) A colony of marine polyps.
- (countable) A somewhat yellowish pink colour, the colour of red coral.
- coral colour:
- The ovaries of a cooked lobster; so called from their colour.
- (historical) A piece of coral, usually fitted with small bells and other appurtenances, used by children as a plaything.
- 1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White:
- 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:
Translations
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Adjective
coral (not comparable)
- Made of coral.
- Having the yellowish pink colour of coral.
Derived terms
- brain coral (in families Mussidae and Merulinidae)
- coral bean (Erythrina herbacea)
- coral berry/coralberry (Aechmea fulgens, Ardisia crenata, Ilex verticillata, Symphoricarpos orbiculatus)
- coral bleaching
- coral fungus
- Coral Gables
- coral insect
- coral island
- coral reef
- Coral Sea
- Coral Sea Islands Territory
- coral snake (in family Elapidae)
- Coral Springs
- coral tree (genus Erythrina)
- coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus)
- coral-bells (Heuchera)
- coralberry
- coralise/coralize
- corallaceous
- corallet
- corallian
- coralliferous
- coralliform
- coralligenous
- coralligerous
- corallike
- coralline
- corallite
- corallivore
- coralloid
- coralloidal
- corally
- coralroot (Corallorhiza; Cardamine bulbifera)
- precious coral (= red coral)
- red coral (Corallium rubrum et al.)
- staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis)
- stony coral (Scleractinia)
Translations
See also
References
- Lewy, Heinrich (1895) Die semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen (in German), Berlin: R. Gaertner’s Verlagsbuchhandlung, pages 18–19
- See e.g. Lithica (one of the Orphic poems), 510-610, and Pliny the Elder, Natural History, book XXXII, line 11.
- C. W. King, The Natural History of Gems or Decorative Stones, 1867, Bell & Daldy, London, pp. 100–101.
- Liddell and Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, Harpers & Brothers, New York, 1846, p. 792.
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill
Catalan
Old Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from Old French coral, from Old French corallium, from Ancient Greek κοράλλιον (korállion).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [koˈɾal]
Noun
coral m (plural corales)
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /koˈɾal/
- Rhymes: -al
Etymology 1
From Old Spanish coral, from Old French coral, from Latin corallium, from Ancient Greek κοράλλιον (korállion).
References
- “coral” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.