# lapidary

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈlæpɪdəɹi/ · frequency rank #90,646

## Definitions
1. A person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.
2. The field in which such a person works, a subfield of gemology.
3. An expert in gems and precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
4. Gems and precious stones collectively; jewellery.
5. A treatise on (precious) stones.

## Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English lapidari, lapidarie (“person who cuts, polishes, or engraves precious stones; expert in precious stones; treatise on precious stones”) [and other forms], from Old French lapidaire (“gemsmith, lapidary”) (modern French lapidaire), or from its etymon Latin lapidārius (“(adjective) of stones, stony; (noun) stonecutter”), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis (“stone; (poetic) jewel, precious stone”), possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *lep- (“to peel”)) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives).
Noun sense 3.2 (“jewellery”) and noun sense 3.3 (“treatise on precious stones”) are derived from Latin lapidāria or lapidārium, a noun use of the neuter plural or genitive plural respectively of lapidāris (“of stone”, adjective), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis; see above) + -āris (suffix forming adjectives).
The stone-referent adjective is either:
* a learned borrowing from Latin lapidārius (adjective); or
* derived from the noun.
The "succinct" sense (adjective sense 4) is by metaphor: the speaker or writer has cut and polished their locution, as it were.

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