gem

See also: gém, gêm, Gem, and GEM

Translingual

Symbol

gem

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-5 language code for Germanic languages.

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English gemme, gimme, yimme, ȝimme, from Old English ġimm, from Proto-West Germanic *gimmu (“gem”) and Old French gemme (“gem”), both from Latin gemma (“a swelling bud; jewel, gem”). Doublet of gemma and Gemma.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛm/
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm

Noun

gem (countable and uncountable, plural gems)

1. A precious stone, usually of substantial monetary value or prized for its beauty or shine.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 144:

     And on her head she wore a tyre of gold,
     Adornd with gemmes and owches wondrous fayre,
     Whose passing price vneath was to be told;

   • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     Of six preceding ancestors, that gem,
     Conferr’d by testament to the sequent issue,
     Hath it been owed and worn. This is his wife;
     That ring’s a thousand proofs.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 647-649:

     […] then silent Night
     With this her solemn Bird and this fair Moon,
     And these the Gemms of Heav’n, her starrie train:

   • 2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 June 2012, page 128:

     Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.

2. (figuratively) Any precious or highly valued thing or person.

   She's an absolute gem.

   • 2017 January 20, Annie Zaleski, “AFI sounds refreshed and rejuvenated on its 10th album, AFI (The Blood Album)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[2]:

     Standout “Hidden Knives” is the kind of new wave-leaning punk gem John Hughes would’ve loved, while “So Beneath You” is a teeth-baring, roiling tune.

3. Anything of small size, or expressed within brief limits, which is regarded as a gem on account of its beauty or value, such as a small picture, a verse of poetry, or an epigram.

   a gem of wit

4. (obsolete) A gemma or leaf-bud.
   • c. 1668, John Denham (translator), Of Old Age by Cato the Elder, Part 3, in Poems and Translations, with The Sophy, London: H. Herringman, 4th edition, 1773, p. 35,^[3]

     Then from the Joynts of thy prolifick Stemm

     A swelling Knot is raised (call’d a Gemm)

   • 1727, James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

     Among the crooked Lanes, on every Hedge, / The Glow-Worm lights his Gem […] .

   • 1803, John Browne Cutting, “A Succinct History of Jamaica” in Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, p. xcii,^[4]

     In about twelve days the sprouts from the gems of the planted cane are seen […]

5. A geometrid moth of species Orthonama obstipata.
6. (computing) A package containing programs or libraries for the Ruby programming language.
7. (uncountable, printing, uncommon, obsolete) A size of type between brilliant (4-point) and diamond (4½-point), running 222 lines to the foot.

Synonyms

• (precious stone): gemstone, jewel, precious stone; see also Thesaurus:gemstone

Derived terms

• begem
• gem clip
• Gem County
• gem-cutter
• gem cutter
• gem-diol
• gem-diolate
• gem-disubstituent effect
• gem-hydrogenation
• Gem State
• gemstone
• gem tree
• hidden gem
• plasma gem

 

Translations

precious stone

• Afrikaans: edelsteen (af)
• Arabic: جَوْهَر (ar) m (jawhar), جَوْهَرَة f (jawhara) (singulative)

  Egyptian Arabic: جوهرة f (gōhara), ماسة f (masa), فص m (faṣ), حجر كريم m (ḥagar karim)

• Armenian: թանկարժեք քար (tʿankaržekʿ kʿar), ակ (hy) (ak), գոհար (hy) (gohar)

  Old Armenian: ակն (hy) (akn)

• Basque: harribitxi
• Belarusian: кашто́ўны ка́мень m (kaštóŭny kámjenʹ), самацве́т m (samacvjét)
• Bulgarian: скъпоце́нен ка́мък m (skǎpocénen kámǎk)
• Burmese: ရတနာ (my) (ra.ta.na)
• Catalan: gemma (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 玉 (zh) (yù), 寶石／宝石 (zh) (bǎoshí)

• Czech: klenot m, drahokam (cs) m
• Danish: ædelsten (da) c
• Dutch: edelsteen (nl) m
• Esperanto: juvelo
• Faroese: gimsteinur m
• Finnish: jalokivi (fi)
• French: joyau (fr) m, pierre précieuse (fr) f
• Galician: xema (gl) f
• Georgian: ძვირფასი ქვა (ʒvirpasi kva), ფერადი ქვა (peradi kva), პატიოსანი თვალი (ṗaṭiosani tvali)
• German: Edelstein (de) m, Juwel (de) n, Kleinod (de) n
• Greek: πολύτιμος λίθος m (polýtimos líthos), πετράδι (el) n (petrádi)

  Ancient: λίθος πολυτελής m (líthos polutelḗs)

• Hebrew: אֶבֶן יְקָרָה f (éven yekará)
• Hindi: मणि (hi) m (maṇi), रत्न (hi) m (ratna), पत्थर (hi) m (patthar)
• Hungarian: drágakő (hu), ékkő (hu)
• Icelandic: gimsteinn (is) m
• Ido: juvelo (io)
• Indonesian: permata (id)
• Iranun: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: seoid f
• Italian: gemma (it) f, pietra preziosa f
• Japanese: 宝石 (ja) (hōseki)
• Khmer: ត្បូង (km) (tboung), មណី (km) (mĕəʼnii)
• Korean: 보석(寶石) (ko) (boseok)
• Lao: ພອຍ (phǭi), ມະນີ (ma nī), ຣະຕະນະ (ra ta na)
• Latin: gemma f
• Latvian: dārgakmens m
• Lithuanian: brangakmenis m
• Lombard: gema f
• Macedonian: скапоцен камен m (skapocen kamen)
• Maguindanao: imu na babay
• Malay: permata (ms), jauhar
• Maranao: montiaq
• Marathi: रत्न (ratna)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: edelstein (no) m, edelsten (no) m

  Nynorsk: edelstein m

• Old English: ġimm m
• Ottoman Turkish: جوهر (cevher)
• Pashto: غمی (ps) m (ǧamáy)
• Persian: گوهر (fa) (gowhar)
• Polish: kamień szlachetny (pl) m, klejnot (pl) m
• Portuguese: gema (pt) f, pedra preciosa (pt) f
• Romanian: nestemată (ro) f, piatră prețioasă (ro) f, gemă (ro) f
• Russian: драгоце́нный ка́мень (ru) m (dragocénnyj kámenʹ), самоцве́т (ru) m (samocvét)
• Sanskrit: मणि (sa) m (maṇi), रत्न (sa) n (ratna)
• Scottish Gaelic: neamhnaid f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: драгуљ m

  Roman: dragulj (sh) m

• Slovak: klenot m, drahokam m
• Slovene: dragulj (sl) m
• Spanish: joya (es) f, alhaja (es) f, piedra preciosa (es) f, gema (es) f
• Swahili: johari class 9/10
• Swedish: juvel (sv) c, ädelsten (sv) c
• Tajik: гавҳар (gavhar)
• Tausug: bidduri, palmata
• Thai: พลอย (th) (plɔɔi), จินดา (jin-daa), รัตน์ (th) (rát)
• Tibetan: ཕྲ (phra)
• Tocharian B: wamer, naumiye, prāp
• Turkish: mücevher (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎑𐎅𐎗 (ẓhr)
• Ukrainian: дорогоці́нний ка́мінь m (dorohocínnyj káminʹ), кошто́вний ка́мінь m (koštóvnyj káminʹ), самоцві́т m (samocvít)
• Uzbek: javohir (uz), gavhar (uz)
• Vietnamese: đá quý
• Welsh: gem (cy) f
• Yiddish: אבֿן־טובֿ m (evn-tov)

precious or highly valued thing or person

• Bulgarian: съкровище (bg) n (sǎkrovište)
• Danish: perle c
• French: merle blanc (fr) m, oiseau rare (fr) m
• Georgian: მარგალიტი (margaliṭi), განძი (ka) (ganʒi), ძვირფასეულობა (ʒvirpaseuloba)
• Greek: διαμάντι (el) n (diamánti), κόσμημα (el) n (kósmima)
• Italian: gemma (it) f, perla (it) f, chicca (it) f
• Pashto: غمی (ps) m (ghamai)
• Polish: klejnot (pl) m, perła (pl) f, skarb (pl) m
• Portuguese: pérola (pt) f
• Russian: жемчу́жина (ru) f (žemčúžina), драгоце́нность (ru) f (dragocénnostʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: neamhnaid f
• Swahili: johari class 9/10
• Swedish: guldklimp (sv) c

obsolete: gemma — see gemma

type of geometrid moth

Verb

gem (third-person singular simple present gems, present participle gemming, simple past and past participle gemmed)

1. (transitive) To adorn with, or as if with, gems.
   • 1813, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Canto I”, in Queen Mab; […], London: […] P. B. Shelley, […], →OCLC, page 6:

     [T]he fair star / That gems the glittering coronet of morn, / Sheds not a light so mild, so powerful, / As that which, bursting from the Fairy's form, / Spread a purpureal halo round the scene, / Yet with an undulating motion, / Swayed to her outline gracefully.

   • 1827, Various, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 10,‎^[5]:

     A few bright and beautiful stars gemmed the wide concave of heaven […] .

   • 1872, J. Fenimore Cooper, The Bravo‎^[6]:

     Above was the firmament, gemmed with worlds, and sublime in immensity.

   • 1920, John Freeman, Poems New and Old‎^[7]:

     The rain Shook from fruit bushes in new showers again As I brushed past, and gemmed the window pane.

   • 1922 February, Miriam Campbell, “A Dream of Brittany”, in The Educational Times: A Review of Ideas and Methods, volume IV (new series)/LXXIV (old series), page 64, column 1:

     And those salt tears your lashes gemmed / Were but the breath of flame distilled; / Flame white and pure, and diademmed / With suffering,—pain with joy fulfilled.

Synonyms

• begem

References

• Gemstones on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “gem”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• EGM, EMG, MEG, MGE, Meg, meg, meg-

Albanian

Alternative forms

• gemb

Etymology

Together with gemb, a phonetic variant of gjemb.

Noun

gem m

1. branch

Derived terms

• gemtë

Related terms

• gjemb

Cimbrian

Alternative forms

• ghèban (Sette Comuni)

Etymology

From Middle High German geben, from Old High German geban, from Proto-West Germanic *geban, from Proto-Germanic *gebaną.

Cognate with German geben, Dutch geven, obsolete English yive, Icelandic gefa.

Verb

gem (strong class 5 , auxiliary håm)

1. (Luserna) to give

References

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Danish

Verb

gem

1. imperative of gemme

Meriam

Noun

gem

1. body

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English game, from Middle English game, gamen, gammen, from Old English gamen (“sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaman, from Proto-Germanic *gamaną (“amusement, pleasure, game”), from *ga- (collective prefix) + *mann- (“man”); or alternatively from *ga- + a root from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think, have in mind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛm/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛm
• Syllabification: gem

Noun

gem m inan

1. (tennis) game (part of a set)

Declension

Declension of gem

	singular	plural
nominative	gem	gemy
genitive	gema	gemów
dative	gemowi	gemom
accusative	gem	gemy
instrumental	gemem	gemami
locative	gemie	gemach
vocative	gemie	gemy

Further reading

• gem in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gem in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

gem

Etymology 1

From English jam.

Noun

gem n (plural gemuri)

1. jam (sweet mixture of fruit boiled with sugar)

Declension

Declension of gem

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) gem	gemul	(niște) gemuri	gemurile
genitive/dative	(unui) gem	gemului	(unor) gemuri	gemurilor
vocative	gemule		gemurilor

Etymology 2

Verb

gem

1. inflection of geme:
   1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. third-person plural present indicative

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡeːm/, /jeːm/
• Rhymes: -eːm
• Homophone: game

Etymology 1

The paper clip's most common design was originally thought to be made by The Gem Manufacturing Company in Britain in the 1870s. More at paper clip.

Noun

gem n

1. a paper clip

Declension

Declension of gem
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	gem	gemet	gem	gemen
Genitive	gems	gemets	gems	gemens

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English game.

Noun

gem n

1. Alternative spelling of game

References

• gem in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• gem in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• gem in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Turkish

Etymology

Greek [Term?]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡem/
• Hyphenation: gem

Noun

gem (definite accusative gemi, plural gemler)

1. rein

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	gem
Definite accusative	gemi
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gem	gemler
Definite accusative	gemi	gemleri
Dative	geme	gemlere
Locative	gemde	gemlerde
Ablative	gemden	gemlerden
Genitive	gemin	gemlerin
Possessive forms Nominative Singular Plural 1st singular gemim gemlerim 2nd singular gemin gemlerin 3rd singular gemi gemleri 1st plural gemimiz gemlerimiz 2nd plural geminiz gemleriniz 3rd plural gemleri gemleri Definite accusative Singular Plural 1st singular gemimi gemlerimi 2nd singular gemini gemlerini 3rd singular gemini gemlerini 1st plural gemimizi gemlerimizi 2nd plural geminizi gemlerinizi 3rd plural gemlerini gemlerini Dative Singular Plural 1st singular gemime gemlerime 2nd singular gemine gemlerine 3rd singular gemine gemlerine 1st plural gemimize gemlerimize 2nd plural geminize gemlerinize 3rd plural gemlerine gemlerine Locative Singular Plural 1st singular gemimde gemlerimde 2nd singular geminde gemlerinde 3rd singular geminde gemlerinde 1st plural gemimizde gemlerimizde 2nd plural geminizde gemlerinizde 3rd plural gemlerinde gemlerinde Ablative Singular Plural 1st singular gemimden gemlerimden 2nd singular geminden gemlerinden 3rd singular geminden gemlerinden 1st plural gemimizden gemlerimizden 2nd plural geminizden gemlerinizden 3rd plural gemlerinden gemlerinden Genitive Singular Plural 1st singular gemimin gemlerimin 2nd singular geminin gemlerinin 3rd singular geminin gemlerinin 1st plural gemimizin gemlerimizin 2nd plural geminizin gemlerinizin 3rd plural gemlerinin gemlerinin
Predicative forms Singular Plural 1st singular gemim gemlerim 2nd singular gemsin gemlersin 3rd singular gem gemdir gemler gemlerdir 1st plural gemiz gemleriz 2nd plural gemsiniz gemlersiniz 3rd plural gemler gemlerdir

Derived terms

• gemi azıya almak (idiom)

Further reading

• gem on the Turkish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^tr

Volapük

Etymology

Perhaps borrowed from French germain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡem/, [ɡem]

Noun

gem (nominative plural gems)

1. sibling
   • 1949, “Lifajenäd brefik cifala: ‚Jakob Sprenger‛”, in Volapükagased pro Nedänapükans, issue 4, 13-14:

     ‚Jakob‛ äbinom cil mälid se gems vel: blods lul e sörs tel.

     Jakob was the sixth child out of seven siblings: five brothers and two sisters.

Declension

declension of gem

	singular	plural
nominative	gem	gems
genitive	gema	gemas
dative	geme	gemes
accusative	gemi	gemis
vocative 1	o gem!	o gems!
predicative 2	gemu	gemus

• ¹ status as a case is disputed
• ² in later, non-classical Volapük only

Hyponyms

• blod (“brother”)
• higem (“brother”)
• jiblod (“sister”)
• jigem (“sister”)
• sör (“sister”)

Derived terms

• (collective) gemef (“brother(s) and/or sister(s)”)
• (adjective) gemik (“sibling”)