| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| zircon |
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| SYLLABICATION: | zir·con |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  zûr k n |
| NOUN: | A brown to colorless mineral, ZrSiO4, which is heated, cut, and polished to form a brilliant blue-white gem. | | ETYMOLOGY: | German Zirkon, from Arabic siriqun, from Greek surikon, from Persian  zarg n, fire color : zar, fire (from Middle Persian dur, from Old Persian *tar, ç-, in  çiydiya, fire-worship month; see ter- in Appendix I) + -gn, color (from Middle Persian; akin to Avestan gaon m, hair, complexion (second sense unattested)).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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