Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A blue to blue-green mineral of aluminum and copper, mainly CuAl6(PO4)4(OH)8·4H2O, prized as a gemstone in its polished blue form.
  • noun A light to brilliant bluish green.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An opaque blue or greenish-blue precious stone, consisting essentially of a phosphate of aluminium containing a little copper and iron.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having a fine light blue color, like that of choice mineral turquoise.
  • noun (Min.) A hydrous phosphate of alumina containing a little copper; calaite. It has a blue, or bluish green, color, and usually occurs in reniform masses with a botryoidal surface.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A sky-blue, greenish-blue, or greenish-gray semi-precious gemstone.
  • noun A pale greenish-blue colour, like that of the gemstone.
  • adjective Made of turquoise (the gemstone).
  • adjective Having a pale greenish-blue colour.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a shade of blue tinged with green
  • noun a blue to grey green mineral consisting of copper aluminum phosphate

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English turkeis and French turquoise, both from Old French (pierre) turqueise, Turkish (stone), turquoise, feminine of turqueis, Turkish, from Turc, Turk; see Turk.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French turquoise, from Old French (pierre) turqueise ("Turkish (stone)"). The stone was originally brought to Europe from Turkestan.

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Examples

  • We also found a second fabulous pair — edgier in turquoise and black — that we instantly dubbed my Berlin glasses.

    Archive 2009-05-01 2009

  • We also found a second fabulous pair — edgier in turquoise and black — that we instantly dubbed my Berlin glasses.

    Pensée du lundi 1er juin 2009

  • GSI pointed out that turquoise is the color of the throat, the voice, communication.

    Pensée du lundi 1er juin 2009

  • GSI pointed out that turquoise is the color of the throat, the voice, communication.

    Archive 2009-05-01 2009

  • Since aqua/turquoise is one of my favorite color types, I think my vote would be on "before".

    Fun with Dyeing, part 2 2007

  • I bought yards of plain turquoise, a golden print, and a print with mixtures of pink, purple, red, green and black.

    Stitching a story 2006

  • I bought yards of plain turquoise, a golden print, and a print with mixtures of pink, purple, red, green and black.

    Stitching a story 2006

  • Resplendent in turquoise from forelock to hoof, Trigger and Buttermilk were subsequently elevated to the unlikely role of room-divider ornaments.

    Home Alone 2006

  • Resplendent in turquoise from forelock to hoof, Trigger and Buttermilk were subsequently elevated to the unlikely role of room-divider ornaments.

    Home Alone 2006

  • Resplendent in turquoise from forelock to hoof, Trigger and Buttermilk were subsequently elevated to the unlikely role of room-divider ornaments.

    Home Alone 2006

Comments

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  • the word pizzazz is from the Farsi word used to describe the color of an exceptional piece of turquoise

    October 18, 2008

  • Tshakur, spoken on the border between Russia and Azerbaijan, is the only language known which has a basic color term for turquoise.

    (According to Berlin and Kay, the linguists who introduced the idea, to be considered a basic color term, a word has to be monoleximic - "green", but not "light green" or "forest green", high-frequency, and agreed upon by speakers of that language; this last point can be ambiguous, as native speakers may not always agree with each other).

    December 4, 2008

  • Is there a reference for the putative link between pizzazz and turquoise? All of the online dictionaries I've checked say that pizzazz is of unknown etymology.

    December 4, 2008

  • The supposed 'pizzazz' connexion looks like the usual far-fetched nonsense possibly inspired by a random vague resemblance to something (eta: presumably Persian piroza "turquoise"). The first use of the word ('pizazz') is in Harper's Bazaar, 1937, claiming to be quoting the editor of the Harvard Lampoon. How Persian or turquoise would get in there is not apparent.

    December 4, 2008

  • I am swooning that you mentioned Berlin and Kay.

    December 4, 2008

  • on pizzazzzz - myth is something that perhaps never was but always is - you obviously have never seen a fine bizzzzbee (Bisbee)turquoise or a fine Cerrillos stone. Shiraz is a town in Persia not Australia after all.

    February 1, 2009

  • No-one has claimed Shiraz is in Australia.

    February 1, 2009

  • And turquoise is not in Turkey though its name is derived from it through Old French. Tiffany Co. recognized "turquoise" for its pizzazz in the 30s - in 1837 if I remember correctly - and branded it as their catalog color. Its a different strain of stained glass called Tiffany blue (some call it close to robin's egg blue) but it may also be called a strain of turquoise. What a mythstory (mystery)! You can far see and/or be shortsighted!

    February 1, 2009