agate

See also:Agate

English

Agate

Etymology 1

FromMiddle Frenchagathe,fromLatinachatēs,fromAncient Greekἀχάτης(akhátēs,“agate”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ˈæɡ.ɪt/
• (weak vowel merger)IPA^(key):/ˈæɡ.ət/

  • Audio(Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes:-æɡɪt

Noun

agate(countableanduncountable,pluralagates)

1. (countable,uncountable,mineralogy)Asemitransparent,uncrystallizedsilicatemineralandsemipreciousstone,presenting varioustintsin the samespecimen,withcolorsdelicately arranged and often curved inparallelalternatingdark and lightstripesorbands,or blended inclouds;various authorities call it a variety ofchalcedony,a variety ofquartz,or a combination of the two.
   • 1831,L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, inRomance and Reality.[…],volume III, London:Henry ColburnandRichard Bentley,[…],→OCLC,page 9:

     The ends of the veil, drawn over her head, were embroidered with silver; she had long gold ear-rings; to a rich and large gold chain was suspended a cross set with precious stones; and over the arm of her chair hung a rosary ofagatebeads.

   • 1947,Malcolm Lowry,Under the Volcano,New York: Reynal & Hitchcock,page86:

     Yes: living among the cohabations^[sic]of Faust himself, among the litharge andagateand hyacinth and pearls.

2. (uncountable,USprinting,dated)Thesizeoftypebetweenpearlandnonpareil,standardizedas 5+¹⁄₂-point.
3. (countable,typography)Onefourteenthof aninch.
4. (countable,obsolete)A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals.
5. (countable)A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.;—so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.
6. (countable)Amarblemade from agate.
7. (slang,usually in theplural)Atesticle.

Synonyms

• (type size):(UK)ruby
• (marble):aggie

Hypernyms

• silica(any mineral of thesilica group)

Hyponyms

• (mineralogy):fortification agate,Scotch pebble;moss agate,clouded agate

Derived terms

• agate glass
• agatelike
• agate line
• agate ruler
• agate snail
• agateware
• agatiferous
• agatiform
• agatine
• agatization
• agatize
• agaty
• connie agate
• eye agate
• lace agate
• moss agate

Related terms

• aggie

Translations

mineral

• Afrikaans:agaat
• Albanian:agatm
• Amharic:አጌትm(ʾäget)
• Arabic:عقيق(ar)m(ʕaqīq)

  Egyptian Arabic:عقيقm(ʕaqīq)

  Hijazi Arabic:عَقيقm(ʕagīg)

• Aragonese:agataf
• Armenian:ագաթ(hy)(agatʻ)
• Azerbaijani:əqiq
• Bashkir:аҡыҡ(aqıq)
• Basque:agata
• Belarusian:агатm(ahat)
• Bengali:অকীক(bn)(okik)
• Bulgarian:ахат(bg)m(ahat)
• Burmese:မဟူရာကျောက်(ma.hura-kyauk)
• Catalan:àgataf
• Chinese:

  Cantonese:Mã não／Mã não(maa⁵nou⁵)

  Eastern Min:Mã não／Mã não(mā-nō̤)

  Hakka:Mã não／Mã não(mâ-nó)

  Hokkien:Mã não／Mã não(má-ló / má-nó͘ / bé-ló / bée-ló)

  Mandarin:Bạch mã não／Bạch mã não(báimǎnǎo),Mã não／Mã não(zh)(mǎnǎo),Văn thạch(zh)(wénshí)

  Wu:Mã não／Mã não(⁶mo-nau)

• Chuvash:а́хах(áhah)
• Corsican:agataf
• Crimean Tatar:agat,akik
• Czech:achát(cs)m
• Danish:agat(da)c
• Dutch:agaat(nl)m
• Esperanto:agato
• Estonian:ahhaat(et)
• Finnish:akaatti(fi),agaatti(fi)
• French:agate(fr)f
• Friulian:àghitef
• Galician:ágata(gl)f
• Georgian:აქატი(ka)(akaṭi)
• German:Achat(de)m
• Greek:αχάτης(el)m(achátis)

  Ancient:ἀχάτηςm(akhátēs)

• Gujarati:અકીકm(akīk)
• Hebrew:שְׁבוֹ(shvo),אָכָטִיס(achátis)
• Hindi:अकीक(hi)m(akīk),गोमेद(hi)m(gomed),गोमेदक(hi)m(gomedak),गोमेधक(hi)m(gomedhak)
• Hungarian:achát(hu)
• Icelandic:agatm
• Ido:agato(io)
• Indonesian:akik(id)
• Irish:agáitf
• Italian:agataf
• Japanese:Mã não(ja)(めのう, menō)
• Kannada:ಅಗೇಟ್(agēṭ)
• Kazakh:ақық(kk)(aqyq)
• Korean:마노(ko)(mano),아게이트(ageiteu)
• Kyrgyz:агат(ky)(agat)
• Latin:achātēs(la)m
• Latvian:ahātsm
• Lezgi:гьакьекь(haq̇eq̇)
• Limburgish:agaot
• Lithuanian:agatasm
• Lushootseed:dxʷʔət̕əb č̓ƛ̕aʔ
• Macedonian:ахатm(ahat)
• Malay:akik(ms),agat
• Malayalam:അഗേറ്റ്(agēṟṟŭ)
• Manx:agaidf
• Mongolian:гартаам(mn)(gartaam)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål:agat(no)m

  Nynorsk:agatm

• Occitan:agata(oc)f
• Ossetian:агат(agat)
• Pashto:عقيق(ps)m
• Persian:عقیق(fa)('aqiq)
• Polish:agat(pl)m
• Portuguese:ágata(pt)f
• Romanian:agat(ro)n,agată(ro)f
• Russian:ага́т(ru)m(agát)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic:а̏ха̄тm

  Roman:ȁhāt(sh)m

• Slovak:achát(sk)m
• Slovene:ahat(sl)m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian:achatm

  Upper Sorbian:agatm

• Spanish:ágata(es)f
• Swahili:kalkedoni
• Swedish:agat(sv)c
• Tagalog:agata
• Tajik:ақиқ(aqiq)
• Tatar:ахак(tt)(axaq)
• Thai:โมรา(moo-raa),อะเกต(à-gàyt)
• Turkish:akik(tr),agat(tr)
• Turkmen:agat(tk)
• Ukrainian:ага́т(uk)m(ahát)
• Urdu:عقیقm(aqīq)
• Uyghur:ھېقىق(hëqiq)
• Uzbek:aqiq(uz)
• Vietnamese:mã não(vi)
• Welsh:agatm,agataumpl
• Western Panjabi:عقیق(pnb)(aqīq)
• Yakut:агаат(agaat)
• Yiddish:אַגאַטm(agat)

5½-point type

• Chinese:

  Mandarin:Thất(zh)(qī)

• Spanish:ágata(es)f

Etymology 2

From LateMiddle Englisha gate.Equivalent toa-(“on”)+‎gate(“way, path”).

Pronunciation

• (US)IPA^(key):/əˈɡæt/

  • Audio(Southern England):

    (file)

Adverb

agate(notcomparable)

1. (obsolete)On the way; agoing.
   • 1554,Interlude of Youth:

     Go to it then hardily, and let us beagate.

   • 1847October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym;Charlotte Brontë],Jane Eyre. An Autobiography.[…],volumes(please specify |volume=I to III),London:Smith, Elder, and Co.,[…],→OCLC:

     I'm fear'd you have some ill plansagate.

Basque

Etymology

FromProto-Basque*anate,fromLatinanatem(“duck”).

Pronunciation

• (Biscayan)IPA^(key):/aɡate/,[a.ɣ̞a.t̪e̞]

Noun

agateinan

1. (Biscayan)Alternative form ofahate.

Esperanto

Adverb

agate

1. present adverbial passive participle ofagi

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/a.ɡat/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

agatef(pluralagates)

1. agate

Further reading

• “agate”,inTrésor de la langue française informatisé[Digitized Treasury of the French Language],2012.

Ido

Verb

agate

1. adverbial present passive participle ofagar

Italian

Noun

agatef

1. pluralofagata

Anagrams

• Gaeta

Mezquital Otomi

Etymology

Borrowed fromSpanishágata,fromOld Frenchagathe,fromLatinachates,fromAncient Greekἀχάτης(akhátēs).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):/ǎɣáte/

Noun

ǎgáte

1. agate

References

• Hernández Cruz, Luis, Victoria Torquemada, Moisés (2010)Diccionario del hñähñu (otomí) del Valle del Mezquital, estado de Hidalgo(Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”;45)‎^[1](in Spanish), second edition,Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C.,page 3

Scots

Alternative forms

• agait

Etymology

a-(“on”)+‎gate

Adverb

agate(notcomparable)

1. On theroad,afoot,going about
2. away

References

• “agate,adv.”in theDictionary of the Scots Language,Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.