obsidian

See also: Obsidian and obsidián

English

Etymology

From Latin obsidianus; named after Obsidius, who was, according to Pliny, the Roman who discovered the stone in Aethiopia.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɒbˈsɪd.i.ən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US, also) IPA^(key): /əbˈsɪd.i.ən/
• Rhymes: -ɪdiən

Noun

obsidian (usually uncountable, plural obsidians)

1. (mineralogy) A type of naturally occurring black glass produced by volcanoes.

   Synonym: obby

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 130:

     The Neolithic culture from 8000 to 6000 B.C., however, was a brilliant period of the revival of crafts, the transformation of gathering into gardening, the growth of a cross-cultural obsidian trade, and the rise of towns.

2. A slightly bluish black, the color of obsidian glass.

   obsidian:  

Hyponyms

• fire obsidian
• rainbow obsidian
• sheen obsidian
• snowflake obsidian

 

Translations

a type of black glass produced by volcanoes

• Afrikaans: lawaglas
• Arabic: سَبَج m (sabaj)
• Armenian: վանակատ (vanakat)
• Bulgarian: обсидиан m (obsidian)
• Catalan: obsidiana (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黑曜岩 (zh) (hēiyàoyán), 黑曜石 (zh) (Hēiyàoshí)

• Czech: obsidián m
• Danish: obsidian c or n
• Dutch: lavaglas, obsidiaan (nl)
• Egyptian: (kf m)
• Esperanto: obsidiano
• Finnish: obsidiaani, laavalasi
• French: obsidienne (fr) f
• Georgian: ობსიდიანი (ka) (obsidiani)
• German: Obsidian (de) m, Glasachat m
• Greek: οψιδιανός (el) m (opsidianós)
• Hawaiian: mākā
• Hindi: ज्वालाकाच (jvālākāc)
• Hungarian: obszidián (hu)
• Icelandic: hrafntinna (is) f
• Ido: obsidiano (io)
• Indonesian: obsidian (id)
• Italian: ossidiana (it) f
• Japanese: 黒曜石 (ja) (kokuyōseki)
• Korean: 흑요석 (heugyoseok)
• Maori: tūhua, matā, matā tūhua
• Nahuatl: itztli (nah), citlālcuitlatl
• Nandi: sengwet
• Navajo: noolyínii
• Polish: obsydian (pl) m
• Portuguese: obsidiana (pt) f
• Romanian: obsidian (ro) n
• Russian: обсидиа́н (ru) m (obsidián)
• Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can
• Serbo-Croatian: opsidijan (sh) m
• Seri: pajii
• Slovak: obsidián (sk) m
• Spanish: obsidiana (es) f
• Swedish: obsidian (sv) c
• Tagalog: obsidiyana
• Turkish: obsidyen (tr), obsidiyen (tr)
• Vietnamese: đá vỏ chai
• Yiddish: אָבסידיאַן m (obsidyan)

Adjective

obsidian (comparative more obsidian, superlative most obsidian)

1. (poetic) Black.
   • 1975, “Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)”, in Nighthawks at the Diner, performed by Tom Waits:

     Looks like a yellow biscuit of a buttery cue ball moon / Rolling maverick across an obsidian sky

Translations

poetic: black

• Dutch: obsidiaan (nl)
• Latvian: obsidiāns m
• Spanish: obsidiano m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 黒曜石 (ja) (こくようせき, kokuyōseki)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 흑요석 (heugyoseok)

Anagrams

• anobiids

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌbsidiˈæˀn/

Noun

obsidian c or n (singular definite obsidianen or obsidianet, not used in plural form)

1. obsidian

Further reading

• “obsidian” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “obsidian” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Indonesian

Etymology

Internationalism, borrowed from Dutch obsidiaan, from Latin obsidianus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔp.si.ˈdi.an/
• Rhymes: -an, -n
• Hyphenation: ob‧si‧di‧an

Noun

obsidian (plural obsidian-obsidian, first-person possessive obsidianku, second-person possessive obsidianmu, third-person possessive obsidiannya)

1. (geology) obsidian

Further reading

• “obsidian” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French obsidiane, from Latin obsidiana.

Noun

obsidian n (plural obsidiane)

1. obsidian

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	obsidian	obsidianul		obsidiane	obsidianele
genitive-dative	obsidian	obsidianului		obsidiane	obsidianelor
vocative	obsidianule			obsidianelor

Further reading

• obsidian in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Swedish

Noun

obsidian c

1. obsidian

Declension

Declension of obsidian

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	obsidian	obsidians
	definite	obsidianen	obsidianens
plural	indefinite	obsidianer	obsidianers
	definite	obsidianerna	obsidianernas