turquoise
See also: Turquoise
English
WOTD – 5 September 2007
Etymology

Turquoise with quartz (1)
From Middle French Turquoise, from Old French (pierre) turquoise (“Turkish (stone)”). The stone, mined near Nishapur in the Khorasan region of Persia, was originally brought to Europe through Turkey.
Pronunciation
Noun
turquoise (countable and uncountable, plural turquoises)
- (countable) A sky-blue, greenish-blue, or greenish-gray semi-precious gemstone.
- 2012 March 1, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 128:
- 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.)
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- (countable and uncountable) A pale greenish-blue colour, like that of the gemstone.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess:
- The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise.
- turquoise colour:
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Synonyms
- (colour): blue-green, green-blue, greenish blue, turquoise blue
Derived terms
Translations
gemstone
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colour
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Adjective
turquoise (comparative more turquoise, superlative most turquoise)
- Made of turquoise (the gemstone).
- Having a pale greenish-blue colour.
Translations
made of turquoise
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having a pale greenish-blue colour
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See also
- (blues) blue; Alice blue, aqua, aquamarine, azure, baby blue, beryl, bice, bice blue, blue green, blue violet, blueberry, cadet blue, Cambridge blue, cerulean, cobalt blue, Copenhagen blue, cornflower, cornflower blue, cyan, Dodger blue, duck-egg blue, eggshell blue, electric-blue, gentian blue, ice blue, lapis lazuli, lovat, mazarine, midnight blue, navy, Nile blue, Oxford blue, peacock blue, petrol blue, powder blue, Prussian blue, robin's-egg blue, royal blue, sapphire, saxe blue, slate blue, sky blue, teal, turquoise, ultramarine, Wedgwood blue, zaffre (Category: en:Blues)
- augite
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tyʁ.kwaz/
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “turquoise” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Middle French
Alternative forms
- turcquoise
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