spinel

English

Spinel

Alternative forms

• spinelle (dated)

Etymology

French spinelle, perhaps from Latin spina (“a thorn, a prickle”), in allusion to its pointed crystals.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /spɪˈnɛl/, /ˈspɪn.əl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl, -ɪnəl

Noun

spinel (countable and uncountable, plural spinels)

1. (mineralogy) Any of several hard minerals of cubic symmetry that are mixed oxides of magnesium and aluminium and are used as gemstones of various colours.
   • 2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 June 2012, page 128:

     Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)

2. (solid state chemistry) Any crystalline material, not necessarily an oxide, that possesses the same crystal structure as this mineral.
3. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Bleached yarn in making the linen tape called inkle; unwrought inkle.
   • 1894, National Association of Wool Manufacturers, Bulletin, page 175:

     Inkle [...means] in modern use, a broad linen tape; wrought spinel.

Derived terms

• ruby spinel
• selenospinel
• sulfospinel

Translations

any of several hard minerals of cubic symmetry that are mixed oxides of magnesium and aluminium

• Arabic: لَعْل (ar) (laʕl)
• Bulgarian: шпине́л m (špinél)
• Burmese: အညံ့ပန်း (my) (a.nyam.pan:)
• Catalan: espinel·la (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 尖晶石 (zh) (jiānjīngshí)

• Dutch: spinel (nl)
• Finnish: spinelli (fi)
• French: spinelle (fr) m
• German: Spinell (de)
• Greek: σπινέλιος m (spinélios)
• Italian: spinello (it) m
• Japanese: スピネル (supineru), 尖晶石 (せんしょうせき, senshōseki)
• Korean: 첨정석(尖晶石) (cheomjeongseok)
• Persian: لعل (fa) (la'l), لال (fa) (lâl)
• Portuguese: espinela f
• Russian: шпине́ль (ru) f (špinélʹ)
• Sinhalese: කිරිංචි (kiriṁci)
• Spanish: espinela (es) f
• Swedish: spinell
• Thai: สปิเนล
• Uzbek: laʼl (uz)

See also

• ruby

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2025) “Spinel”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “spinel”, in Mindat.org‎^[2], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2025.

Anagrams

• spline, pensil, Eplins, Pilsen, pinsel, L-spine, Esplin

Old English

Alternative forms

• spinl, spinil, spindel, spindle

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *spinnilu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspi.nel/

Noun

spinel f

1. spindle

Declension

Strong ō-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	spinel	spinela, spinele
accusative	spinele	spinela, spinele
genitive	spinele	spinela
dative	spinele	spinelum

Derived terms

• mulne spinel

Descendants

• Middle English: spyndel, spyndylle, spyndell, spindelle, spyndle, spindil, spyndill, spyndul, spindel, spinle, spindle
  • English: spindle (dialectal spinnel)
  • Middle Scots: spinnell, spindill
    • Scots: spinnel, spinnle, spindle

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French spinelle.

Noun

spinel m (plural spineli)

1. spinel

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	spinel	spinelul		spineli	spinelii
genitive-dative	spinel	spinelului		spineli	spinelilor
vocative	spinelule			spinelilor