jasper

jasper — noun

1. a hard, opaque stone found in many colors such as red, yellow, brown, or green,

1.nounC2
Definition

a hard, opaque stone found in many colors such as red, yellow, brown, or green, which is cut and polished for use in jewelry and small decorative objects

Example

Yuki gave her mother a bracelet made of green jasper for her sixtieth birthday.

collocation: green jasper / red jasper / polished jasper

The market stall had pieces of red and yellow jasper arranged in small wooden boxes.

Common collocations
  • red jasper
  • green jasper
  • polished jasper
  • rough jasper
  • piece of jasper
  • jasper jewelry
Synonyms
  • agate

    a banded form of quartz, often translucent, whereas jasper is opaque and usually has a more uniform color

  • chalcedony

    the broader mineral group that includes both jasper and agate, but chalcedony is often translucent while jasper is opaque

Usage Note

Jasper is typically treated as an uncountable noun when referring to the stone as a material: 'The brooch is carved from jasper.' It becomes countable when talking about individual pieces or varieties: 'Several different jaspers were on display at the show.'

Common Mistakes

Jasper is a transparent stone used in jewelry.
Jasper is an opaque stone used in jewelry.
Unlike diamonds or quartz crystals, jasper is not transparent; light cannot pass through it.

2. a style of hard ceramic pottery in which the main body is colored and the surfac

2.nounC2
Definition

a style of hard ceramic pottery in which the main body is colored and the surface has white shapes or patterns that stand out in relief, best known from the Wedgwood company in England

Example

The museum displayed a blue jasper vase with raised white flowers and leaves.

collocation: blue jasper / jasper vase / raised white decoration

Anna collects antique jasper teapots with white classical figures on the sides.

Common collocations
  • blue jasper
  • green jasper
  • jasper vase
  • jasper teapot
  • black jasper
  • raised white decoration
Synonyms
  • jasperware

    the exact same meaning; 'jasperware' is a more specific, modern term for this style of pottery

  • stoneware

    a broader category of pottery that includes jasper; stoneware does not specifically have the raised white decoration

Usage Note

Also called 'jasperware.' This sense refers specifically to the pottery style, not to the stone. The two meanings are historically linked — Wedgwood named the pottery after the gemstone because the colored stone body reminded them of natural jasper.

Common Mistakes

The blue jasper vase is carved from solid stone.
The blue jasper vase is made of ceramic stoneware with white decoration.
Jasper pottery is fired clay, not carved rock.

3. a dark green color that is almost black, named after the shade found in some typ

3.nounC2
Definition

a dark green color that is almost black, named after the shade found in some types of the stone jasper

Example

Hoa painted her front door a deep jasper green that looked almost black at night.

collocation: jasper green

Marco chose a jasper green scarf to match his olive coat.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Jasper, agate, and chalcedony are all forms of quartz, but they differ in appearance. Chalcedony is the broadest term — it refers to any fine-grained quartz with a fibrous or microcrystalline structure. Jasper is a type of chalcedony that is completely opaque and often contains iron oxides that give it red, yellow, brown, or green colors. Agate is also a type of chalcedony but has distinctive bands or layers of color and is often translucent. In everyday use: a ring with a uniform red, opaque stone would be called jasper; a bracelet with wavy bands of color that you can see light through would be called agate; and a general milky or gray translucent stone without strong patterns would simply be called chalcedony.

agate ↗chalcedony ↗quartz ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • made of jasper
  • carved from jasper
  • inlaid with jasper

Prepositions

Etymology

SemiticGreekLatinFrenchEnglish

The word 'jasper' entered English through Old French 'jaspre', from Latin 'iaspidem' (accusative of 'iaspis'), which was borrowed from Greek 'iaspis'. The Greek word itself probably came from a Semitic source — compare Hebrew 'yashpeh', which appears in the Bible as a stone in the high priest's breastplate. The gemstone has been known and valued since ancient times across many cultures.

First known use

14th century

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1