A hard, semi-precious stone that is usually black or dark colored and polished smooth for jewelry or decoration.
From Greek 'onyx' meaning 'claw' or 'fingernail', because the bands in the stone resemble layers like a fingernail. The word entered English through Latin from Greek.
Ancient Greeks named this stone 'fingernail stone' because of its striped layers, which is poetic and weird—imagining a gemstone that looks like a giant fingernail, and then deciding that's the perfect name for a fancy decoration you'd wear on your finger.
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