Etymology

turquoise

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Today it means: A sky-blue, greenish-blue, or greenish-gray semi-precious gemstone. Full definition →

Middle French turquoise ← Old French (pierre) turquoise
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The story

  1. Old French · derived from(pierre) turquoise“Turkish (stone)”
  2. Middle French · borrowed fromturquoise
  3. English todayturquoise

From Middle French turquoise, from Old French (pierre) turquoise (“Turkish (stone)”), from turc + -ois. The stone, mined near Nishapur in the Khorasan region of Persia, was originally brought to Europe through Turkey. Doublet of Turkish. Compare typologically copper (<< Ancient Greek Κύπρος (Kúpros, “Cyprus”)).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.