# emerald

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɛm.(ə.)ɹəld/ · frequency rank #12,965

## Definitions
1. Any of various green gemstones, especially a green transparent form of beryl, highly valued as a precious stone.
2. Emerald green, a colour.
3. Vert, when blazoning by precious stones.
4. Any hummingbird in the genera Chlorostilbon and Elvira; and some in the genus Amazilia
5. Any of various species of dragonfly of the family Corduliidae.
6. A size of type between nonpareil and minion, standardized as 6½-point.

## Etymology
From Middle English emeraude, borrowed from Old French esmeraude, from Vulgar Latin *smaralda, *smaraldus, *smaraudus, variant of Latin smaragdus, from Ancient Greek σμάραγδος (smáragdos), μάραγδος (máragdos), from a Semitic language. Compare Hebrew בָּרֶקֶת (bāréqeṯ, “emerald, flashing gem”), Akkadian 𒁀𒊏𒄣 (baraqu, literally “scintillation”), Arabic بَرْق (barq, literally “flashing”), Egyptian bwyrqꜣ (literally “to sparkle”):D58-Z7-Z4:D21-N29-Z1-G1-D6 and loanwords with Semitic etymon such as Sanskrit मरकत (marakata).

## Easily confused with
- **emerged** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/emerald-vs-emerged)
- **Esmeralda** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/emerald-vs-esmeralda)

## Common misspellings (10)
`eemrald`, `emearld`, `emeradl`, `emeraldd`, `emeralld`, `emerlad`, `emerrald`, `emmerald`, `emreald`, `meerald`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/emerald