gem
pronunciation
How to pronounce gem in British English:
UK [dʒem]
How to pronounce gem in American English:
US [dʒem]
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- Noun:
- a crystalline rock that can be cut and polished for jewelry
- art highly prized for its beauty or perfection
- a person who is a brilliant and precious as a piece of jewelry
- a sweet quick bread baked in a cup-shaped pan
- a precious or semiprecious stone incorporated into a piece of jewelry
Word Origin
- gem
- gem: [14] Gem comes via Old French gemme from Latin gemma. This originally meant ‘bud’, and the sense ‘precious stone’ was only a secondary metaphorical extension. The underlying semantic stratum still appears in such botanical terms as gemmation ‘formation of buds’ [18].
- gem (n.)
- "a precious stone" (especially when cut or polished), c. 1300, probably from Old French gemme (12c.), from Latin gemma "precious stone, jewel," originally "bud," from Proto-Italic *gebma- "bud, sprout," from PIE *geb-m- "sprout, bud" (cognates: Lithuanian žembeti "to germinate, sprout," Old Church Slavonic prozebnoti "to germinate"). The two competing traditional etymologies trace it either to the root *gembh- "tooth, nail; to bite" [Watkins] or *gem- "'to press." De Vaan finds the second "semantically unconvincing" and leans toward the first despite the difficult sense connection. Of persons, "a rare or excellent example (of something)" from late 13c. Alternative forms iemme, gimme persisted into 14c. and might represent a survival of Old English gimm "precious stone, gem, jewel," also "eye," which was borrowed directly from Latin gemma.
- gem (v.)
- c. 1600, "to adorn with gems;" earlier (mid-12c.) "to bud," from gem (n.). Related: Gemmed; gemming.
Example
- 1. An ad for gem paper clips appearing in office appliances , volume 36 , 1922 .
- 2. Fifty years in the making , this encyclopedia of " firsts " is a gem of a book , amusing and informative .
- 3. Church of the exaltation of the holy cross built in the beginning of the 20th century is the gem of the city .
- 4. When presenting a zodiac stone gift , include a description of the gem 's astrological significance and origins .
- 5. Also , learn about the 4 c 's of picking a gem and marvel at the women who wore the most remarkable engagement rings in history .