''onyx'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260714000159-00-⌔

onyx - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

onyx (countable and uncountable, plural onyxes)

• (mineralogy) A banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz.
  • ✤ People talk about using marble in the bathrooms. Marble wasn’t good enough for use—we have onyx!¹
• A jet-black color, named after the gemstone.
  • ✤ onyx:
  • ✤ Near-synonyms: ebony, raven
• Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Horaga.

Adjective

onyx (not comparable)

• Jet-black; often, glossily so.
  • ✤ Near-synonyms: ebony, raven
  • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:, Genesis, 2:12
    • ✤ And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
  • ✤ There was no moon, only stars set brilliantly in the soft black onyx of the sky: a black night and very silent on Cimiez; and a black and silent prospect from the verandah […]²

Etymology

From Middle English onix (c. 1300), earlier oniche (c. 1250), from Old French oniche or onix, from Latin onyx, from Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux, “onyx”).³ Doublet of unguis.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɒnɪks/
• Audio (Southern England): 🔊
• Rhymes: -ɒnɪks

Printed 2026-07-14.

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Footnotes

1. 2023 September 23, Tom Robbins, “Suite dreams”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1: ↩

2. 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/7/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days ‎${}^{[1]}$: ↩

3. Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, Robert K. Barnhart (ed.), Chambers, 1988 ↩