garnet

/ˈgɑrnət/

/ˈgɑnɪt/

Other forms: garnets

A garnet is a semi-precious gemstone that's usually a deep red color. If you were born in January, the garnet is your birthstone.

Garnet comes from the Medieval Latin granatum, "of dark red color." One theory says the word was abstracted from pomum granatum, or "pomegranate," which has dark red seeds. Despite this origin, and the fact that garnet itself means "dark red," as well as "a gemstone," garnets actually come in a wide range of colors: pink, green, brown, blue, and even colorless. These silicate stones are mined all over the world and polished into gems.

Definitions of garnet

1. noun

   any of a group of hard glassy minerals (silicates of various metals) used as gemstones and as an abrasive
   types:

   almandine, almandite

   a deep red garnet consisting of iron aluminum silicate

   andradite

   a garnet consisting of calcium iron silicate and having any color ranging from yellow and green to brown and black; used as gemstone

   carbuncle

   deep-red cabochon garnet cut without facets

   cinnamon stone, essonite, hessonite

   a garnet ranging in color from yellow to brown

   pyrope

   a deep red garnet used as a gemstone

   rhodolite

   a red or pink variety of garnet used as a gemstone

   demantoid

   a green andradite used as a gemstone

   type of:

   mineral

   solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition

   transparent gem

   a gemstone having the property of transmitting light without serious diffusion
2. noun

   a dark red color
3. adjective

   of a dark red color