onyx

Meanings

Noun

• A banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz.
• A jet-black color, named after the gemstone.
• Any of various lycaenid butterflies of the genus Horaga (genus).

Adjective

• jet-black

Origin

• From Middle English onix (c. 1300), earlier oniche (c. 1250), from Old French oniche or onix, from Latin onyx, from Ancient Greek ὄνυξ. unguis.