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cabochon

UK/ˌkæbəˈʃɒn/US/ˌkæbəˈʃɒn/
nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechToo rare in one of the two pools to compare — fewer than 20 uses in speech or in writing

Other forms: cabochons

A cabochon is a stone polished round rather than cut into faces. A cabochon ruby.

Stones that are cloudy or that show a star are always cut as a cabochon. A cabochon was the only form of gem cutting there was before faceting was worked out.

Mario Sarto Masa · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of cabochon

  1. 1nouncabochonA stone polished round rather than cut into faces.C2

    “The cabochon showed a clean star under a single light.”

cabochon is a cut.

Where it comes from

French cabochon, a little head, from caboche and ultimately Latin caput.

  1. Latin

    caput — head

  2. Old French

    caboce

  3. French

    cabochon

  4. English, today

    cabochon

Built from

  • caboche · French — head

French cabochon, diminutive form of caboche (“head”), from Old French caboce, from Latin caput (“head”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Jewellery & Watches

Practise this word

cabochon in the wild

  • When cut to produce a cabochon, the mineral forms a light-green specimen with a silky band of light extending across the surface of the stone.

    Chrysoberyl

  • A cabochon (; from Middle French caboche 'head') is a gemstone that has been shaped and polished, as opposed to faceted.

    Cabochon

  • The DeLong Star Ruby, a 100.32-carat oval cabochon star ruby.

    DeLong Star Ruby

  • The Star of Bombay is a 182-carat cabochon-cut star sapphire originating in Sri Lanka.

    Star of Bombay

  • Carbuncle () is another name for a deep red almandine gemstone that has been cut with a smooth, convex face in a method called cabochon.

    Carbuncle (gemstone)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the caput family

cattlecapitalchapterchefcape

cabochon — used too rare to measure · point at the bar for the others