carnelian
/kɑɹˈnil.jən/noun
carnelian is spelled C-A-R-N-E-L-I-A-N: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 77,666th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, carnelian means “A hard, reddish brown chalcedony used in jewelry” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of carnelian is carnelians.
How many letters and syllables are in carnelian?
| Letters | 9: C-A-R-N-E-L-I-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 7 million words; the 77,666th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is carnelian?
Carnelian appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 77,666th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce carnelian?
- US /kɑɹˈnil.jən/
Carnelian has 3 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-carnelian.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of carnelian
- carnelians plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does carnelian mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A hard, reddish brown chalcedony used in jewelry.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Carnelian in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense reddish brown chalcedony:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does carnelian come from?
From cornelian, the red form named carneolus under the influence of Latin carneus (“fleshy”) because of its color.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).