chatoyant

[ shuh-toi-uhnt ]

See synonyms for chatoyant on Thesaurus.com

adjective

changing in luster or color: chatoyant silk.
Jewelry. reflecting a single streak of light when cut in a cabochon.

noun

Jewelry. a cabochon-cut gemstone having this reflected streak, as a chrysoberyl cat's eye.

Origin of chatoyant

First recorded in 1790–1800; from French, present participle of chatoyer “to change luster like a cat's eye,” derivative of chat “cat”; cf. cat

Other words from chatoyant

cha·toy·ance, cha·toy·an·cy, noun

Words Nearby chatoyant

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use chatoyant in a sentence

The chatoyant eyes of the leopard stared back, a flicker of restlessness in their brilliant yellow deeps.
The Adventures of Kathlyn | Harold MacGrath
Cymophane, or chatoyant chrysoberyl, may also be asteriated.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 7 | Various
She invariably wore gloves out of doors and a veil to conceal the chatoyant eyes.
The Green Eyes of Bst | Sax Rohmer
There was a river there too; not a little bolt of chatoyant silk like the Avon, which they would have called a "crick" back there.
The Best Short Stories of 1920 | Various

British Dictionary definitions for chatoyant

chatoyant

/ (ʃəˈtɔɪənt) /

adjective

having changeable lustre; twinkling
(of a gem, esp a cabochon) displaying a band of light reflected off inclusions of other minerals

noun

a gemstone with a changeable lustre, such as a cat's eye

Origin of chatoyant

C18: from French, from chatoyer to gleam like a cat's eyes, from chat cat 1

Derived forms of chatoyant

chatoyancy, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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