Dictionary

sardonyx en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /sɑː(ɹ)ˈdɒnɪks/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English sardonix, sardonyx (c. 1382), from Latin sardonyx, from Ancient Greek σᾰρδόνῠξ (sărdónŭx). Doublet of sardoin.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A gemstone having bands of red sard; a variety of onyx or chalcedony.
   • The large chalice at right is carved from a single chunk of sardonyx, a kind of onyx. Its gilded rim and base are decorated with tiny enamels depicting a host of popular saints, including Nicephorus (farthest left on rim), a Ninth Century patriarch and opponent of a religious movement to destroy icons. 1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 40:
   • I was wondering at these hanging gardens amid the forest of pink and white marble, red sardonyx, blue-gray, and cream, and black bricks, and green and yellow and tyrian tiles, when the sight of a lansquenet guarding the entrance to a casern reminded me of the promise I had made the officer of the peltasts the night before. 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter XVI, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 151:
   • The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 21:20:

Forms

Translations (29)

es sardónice (gemstone banded with red sard) · es sardónica (gemstone banded with red sard) · mi hararonika (gemstone banded with red sard) · da sardonyks (gemstone banded with red sard) · ja サードニクス (gemstone banded with red sard) · lt sardoniksas (gemstone banded with red sard) · hy սարդոնիքս (gemstone banded with red sard) · fr sardoine (gemstone banded with red sard) · pl sardonyks (gemstone banded with red sard) · pl sardonik (gemstone banded with red sard) · cmn 纏絲瑪瑙 /缠丝玛瑙 (gemstone banded with red sard) · ka სარდონიქსი (gemstone banded with red sard) · la sardonyx (gemstone banded with red sard) · es sardónix (gemstone banded with red sard) · grc σαρδόνυξ (gemstone banded with red sard) · yi סאַרדאָניקס (gemstone banded with red sard) · ja サードニックス (gemstone banded with red sard) · et sardoonüks (gemstone banded with red sard) · ru сардони́кс (gemstone banded with red sard) · lv sardonikss (gemstone banded with red sard) · ca sardònix (gemstone banded with red sard) · it sardonice (gemstone banded with red sard) · ga sardoinisc (gemstone banded with red sard) · de Sardonyx (gemstone banded with red sard) · ro sardonix (gemstone banded with red sard) · fi sardonyksi (gemstone banded with red sard) · el σαρδόνυχας (gemstone banded with red sard) · hu szardonix (gemstone banded with red sard) · cy sardonics (gemstone banded with red sard)