nephrite
nephrite — noun
1. a tough, fine-grained stone, ranging in colour from creamy white through deep gr
a tough, fine-grained stone, ranging in colour from creamy white through deep green to almost black, that is one of the two minerals sold as jade — the cheaper and more widely found of the pair.
The museum's Maori collection includes a polished nephrite pendant carved in the shape of a fish-hook.
noun in noun-noun compound: nephrite + object
Reema explained that most ancient Chinese jade carvings were cut from nephrite, not the rarer jadeite.
contrast pattern: nephrite vs jadeite
Large blocks of nephrite are still pulled from rivers on New Zealand's South Island every year.
When wet, the dark green nephrite from the cliff shone like deep ocean water.
Piotr's grandfather taught him how to tell nephrite from cheaper green serpentine by tapping it lightly.
- jade
umbrella term that covers both nephrite and jadeite; use 'jade' in general talk and 'nephrite' only when the specific mineral matters
- greenstone
New Zealand English term for nephrite found locally, especially in Maori cultural contexts
- jadeite
the other, rarer and more expensive mineral also marketed as jade
文法句型
uncountable noun
用法筆記
Almost always uncountable. Typically appears in geology, archaeology, and jewellery contexts; modified by colour adjectives (dark green, white) or paired with a contrasting mineral (jadeite, serpentine).