zircon

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zir·con

 (zûr′kŏn′)
n.
A brown to colorless mineral, ZrSiO4, which is heated, cut, and polished to form a brilliant blue-white gem.

[German Zirkon (originally in obsolete scientific German Zirkonerde, zirconium oxide, coined by German chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth (1743-1817), who first isolated it from a jacinth), probably partly from Arabic zarqūn, minium, bright red (from Persian zargūn, gold-colored, from Middle Persian zargōn, golden : zarr, zar-, golden from Old Iranian *zarna-; see ghel- in Indo-European roots + gōn, color, from Old Iranian *gaona-; akin to Sanskrit guṇaḥ, string, thread, quality), and partly from European terms for "jacinth" such as French jargon (from Old French jargonce, ultimately from Latin hyacinthus; see hyacinth).]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

zircon

(ˈzɜːkɒn)
n
(Minerals) a reddish-brown, grey, green, blue, or colourless hard mineral consisting of zirconium silicate in tetragonal crystalline form with hafnium and some rare earths as impurities. It occurs principally in igneous rocks and is an important source of zirconium, zirconia, and hafnia: it is used as a gemstone and a refractory. Formula: ZrSiO4
[C18: from German Zirkon, from French jargon, via Italian and Arabic, from Persian zargūn golden]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

zir•con

(ˈzɜr kɒn)

n.
a mineral, zirconium silicate, ZrSiO4, occurring in small tetragonal crystals or grains of various colors, usu. opaque: used as a gem when transparent.
[1785–95; < German Zirkon]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

zir·con

(zûr′kŏn′)
A brown, reddish to bluish, gray, green, or colorless mineral that is a silicate of zirconium and occurs in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks, and especially in sand. The colorless varieties are valued as gems.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.zircon - a common mineral occurring in small crystals; chief source of zirconium; used as a refractory when opaque and as a gem when transparent
atomic number 40, zirconium, Zr - a lustrous grey strong metallic element resembling titanium; it is used in nuclear reactors as a neutron absorber; it occurs in baddeleyite but is obtained chiefly from zircon
mineral - solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition
hyacinth, jacinth - a red transparent variety of zircon used as a gemstone
jargoon, jargon - a colorless (or pale yellow or smoky) variety of zircon
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

zircon

[ˈzɜːkən] Ncircón m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

zircon

nZirkon m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

zircon

[ˈzɜːkən] nzircone m
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in periodicals archive ?
Cathodoluminescence images of the zircons selected for geochronology were obtained and selected areas of zircons will be run on LA-ICP-MS.
Also found on Earth, zircons serve as an archaeologist's favorite dating tool.
Further information on the surrounding of Zr and Hf both in natural zircons from Canada and in synthetic zircons and hafnon was collected by the determination of the quadrupole hyperfine interactions [18, 19].
Origin of the cat's-eye effect in heat-treated zircons from Sri Lanka.
Scientists from Stanford University and the University of California drew this conclusion from tens of thousands of multibillion year-old zircons they obtained in Jack Hills, Australia, the oldest material of terrestrial origin found to date.
Scientists from Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles said they recently collected some 10,000 multibillion year-old zircons in Jack Hills, Australia, including one believed to contain a carbon deposit that is 4.1 billion years old, give or take 10 million years.
First results of U/Pb dating of detrital zircons from Early Paleozoic and Devonian sandstones of the Baltic-Ladoga region (South Ladoga area).
U-Pb in situ age determinations were carried out on 37 polished zircons using a New Wave Research LUV213 laserablation microprobe, attached to an Agillent 7500 quadrupole ICP-MS at the ARC GEMOC Centre of the Macquarie University, Sydney (Australia).
The new study confirms that zircon crystals from Western Australia's Jack Hills region crystallized 4.4 billion years ago, building on earlier studies that used lead isotopes to date the Australian zircons and identify them as the oldest bits of the Earth's crust.
The ancient zircons they unearthed are shards of lost Mauritia.