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Onyx vs Opal - What's the difference?

onyx | opal |

As nouns the difference between onyx and opal

is that onyx is (mineralogy) a banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz while opal is opal.

As an adjective onyx

is jet-black.

onyx

English

(wikipedia onyx)

Noun

  • (mineralogy) A banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz.
  • A jet-black color, named after the gemstone.

    • Adjective

    (-)
  • jet-black
  • * , Genesis, 2:12
    • And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=, title=“Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=3/7/2 citation
    • , passage=There was no moon, only stars set brilliantly in the soft black onyx of the sky?: a black night and very silent on Cimiez?; and a black and silent prospect from the verandah

    See also

    * sardonyx

    References

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    opal

    English

    (wikipedia opal)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mineralogy) A mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity, of the chemical formula Si]]O2· n[[water, H2O.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
    • , author=Lee A. Groat , title=Gemstones , volume=100, issue=2, page=128 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=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.)}}
  • (biology, genetics, biochemistry) A colloquial name used in molecular biology referring to a particular stop codon sequence, "UGA."

    • Derived terms

    * fire opal * wood opal * opaline * opalesce

    References

    Anagrams

    * ----