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zircon

[zur-kon]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR zircon ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a common mineral, zirconium silicate, ZrSiO4, occurring in small tetragonal crystals or grains of various colors, usually opaque: used as a refractory when opaque and as a gem when transparent.

Origin of zircon

1785–95; < German Zirkon; see jargon2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for zircon

jewel, gem, rhinestone, paragon, ice, lozenge, rock, corundum, rhombus, allotrope, solitaire, brilliant, bort, jager

Examples from the Web for zircon

Historical Examples of zircon

  • Zircon, engrossed in a theoretical problem, scarcely noticed.

  • The truly refined people are those who have got three garnets and one zircon.

    Dodo's Daughter

    E. F. Benson

  • I'll tell Zircon this when he comes, but you can be thinking it over in the meantime.

  • Nothing remained but to wait for Zircon and make definite plans.

  • If anyone asks, I can say I want movies of the animals you and Zircon shoot.

British Dictionary definitions for zircon

zircon

noun

a reddish-brown, grey, green, blue, or colourless hard mineral consisting of zirconium silicate in tetragonal crystalline form with hafnium and some rare earths as impurities. It occurs principally in igneous rocks and is an important source of zirconium, zirconia, and hafnia: it is used as a gemstone and a refractory. Formula: ZrSiO 4

Word Origin for zircon

C18: from German Zirkon, from French jargon, via Italian and Arabic, from Persian zargūn golden
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
Word Origin and History for zircon
n.

1794, new name given in chemistry to jacinth, from German Zirkon (cf. French jargon, Italian giargone), from Arabic zarqun "cinnabar, bright red," from Persian zargun "gold-colored," from Avestan zari- "gold-colored," from zar "gold."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
zircon in Science

zircon

[zûr′kŏn′]

A brown, reddish to bluish, gray, green, or colorless tetragonal mineral that occurs in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, and especially in sand. The colorless varieties are valued as gems. Chemical formula: ZrSiO4.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.