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jewel

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈd͡ʒuːəl/, /ˈd͡ʒuːl/[1]
  • US: /d͡ʒul/, /ˈd͡ʒuəl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English jeuel, also juel, jowel and joel,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman juel, also jeuel and jewel,[4][5][6] beside Old French joel, jouel and joiel, modern French joyau.[4][3][7] The French word meant a valuable object of gold, silver or precious stones from the early 12th century, and a person or thing of great value from the early 13th;[4] the Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1155.[8] Its formation is uncertain.[3][9] The OED and Merriam-Webster take it as a diminutive of jeu (“game, play”), also ju and jo,[4][10][11] which comes from Latin iocus (“jest, pastime”);[11][9][5] Ayto calls this the general assumption.[9] Barnhart and Etymonline trace it instead to Medieval Latin jocale,[6][5] the American Heritage Dictionary to Vulgar Latin *iocāle, the neuter of *iocālis (“of play”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *yek-,[12] and Weekley to *jocellus.[13] The OED cites the Latin noun, recorded from the 13th century, only for comparison, beside Italian gioiello and Spanish joyel, which it takes from French.[4] Another theory derives the French word from gaudium (“joy”), which Weekley thought less likely for phonetic reasons.[5][13] French also gave Middle Dutch jueel, now Dutch juweel, and German Juwel, which came through Dutch and French.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A valuable object made by human hands, a treasure, especially one of gold, silver or precious stones: c. 1300, in a life of St Thomas Becket.[4] Barnhart finds the sense "valuable object or treasure" probably before 1300 in Kyng Alisaunder,[6] and Etymonline dates the sense "article of value used for adornment" to the late 13th century.[5]

Semantic evolution

The narrower sense "precious stone, gem" is recorded before 1325 in the Cursor Mundi,[6][4] although Ayto places the main modern sense "gem" only towards the end of the 16th century,[9] and Hoad dates the sense "precious stone, especially as an ornament" to the 16th century.[3] The older sense of a costly ornament is now largely kept by the collective jewellery.[9] The figurative "treasure, gem", a person or thing of great worth, appears about 1330 in Kyng Alisaunder,[4][3] and Etymonline dates "beloved person, admired woman" to the late 14th century.[5] Jewel as a slang word for the testicles goes back to the late 15th century, in the play Mankind,[14][5] and family jewels to the 1920s.[5] Later senses include the badge of an order of knighthood (1617), an imitation gem of glass (1613), and a precious stone used as a bearing in a watch (1711).[4] The phrase the jewel in the crown, the most valuable part of something, dates from the 17th century; it was used of the colonies of the British Empire in the early 1900s and became popular through Paul Scott's novel of 1966 and the BBC series based on it.[15][4] Johnson (1755) defined the word as any very valuable ornament, usually one set with precious stones.[16] In Shetland, Ireland and parts of England it was a term of endearment.[17] The verb, to adorn with jewels, is recorded from 1551,[4] or from 1601 in Merriam-Webster;[10] from 1764 it also meant to fit a watch with jewels.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – a valuable object, a treasure, especially of gold, silver or gems.[4]
  • before 1325 – a precious stone, a gem.[6]
  • c. 1330 – figuratively, a person or thing of great worth.[4]
  • c. 1400–1500 – treasure, riches, as a mass noun (obsolete).[4]
  • 1465–71 – the testicles, in Mankind.[14]
  • 1551 – verb, to adorn with jewels.[4]
  • 1613 – an imitation gem.[4]
  • 1617 – the badge or pendant of an order of knighthood.[4]
  • 1673 – a particularly valuable feature of something.[4]
  • 1711 – a precious stone used in the mechanism of a watch.[4]
  • 1764 – verb, to fit a watch with jewels.[4]
  • 1885 – a gem-like piece of coloured glass in stained-glass work.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A precious stone or semiprecious stone, especially one cut and polished; a gem: The ring was set with a single green jewel.[18][10][4]
  2. A piece of jewellery, or an ornament containing such stones.[18][4]
  3. A gem, often a synthetic one, used as a bearing in a watch or instrument.[18][4]
  4. An ornamental piece of glass, often faceted, used in stained glass.[18][4]
  5. A person or thing that is highly valued: Their village is the jewel of the valley.[18][10][4]
  6. the jewel in the crown: the most valuable or successful part of something.[18][4][15]
  7. jewels (slang): the male genitals.[14][5]
  8. (archaic) A valuable ornament or article of value.[10][4]

Verb

  1. To adorn or set with jewels: a jewelled crown.[10][4][7]
  2. To fit a watch with jewels for its pivot holes.[10][4]

Word family

  • jewellike
  • jewelfish
  • jewelweed
  • bejewel
  • jeweler
  • jeweller
  • jewellery
  • jewelry

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  17. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  18. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins