Link Centre Dictionary

gem

UK/d͡ʒɛm/ US/d͡ʒɪm/ fairly common

noun

1.

a crystalline rock that can be cut and polished for jewelry

  • “he had the gem set in a ring for his wife”
  • “she had jewels made of all the rarest stones”
Synonyms
2.

art highly prized for its beauty or perfection

Synonyms
3.

a person who is a brilliant and precious as a piece of jewelry

Synonyms
4.
5.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English gemme, gimme, yimme, ȝimme, from Old English ġimm, from Proto-West Germanic *gimmu (“gem”) and Old French gemme (“gem”), both from Latin gemma (“a swelling bud; jewel, gem”). Doublet of gemma and Gemma.

Phrases

  • cardinal gem
  • gem clip
  • Gem County
  • gem cutter
  • gem squash
  • Gem State
  • gem-disubstituent effect
  • gem-faced civet

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.