chrysosperm

C3H4R1Y4S1O1S1P3E1R1M3

noun

The seed of gold; an alchemical means of creating gold.

“Of your elixir, your lac Virginis, Your stone, your med'cine , and your chrysosperm”

Scrabble 23

Meanings

nounchrysosperm (uncountable)
  1. obsoleteuncountablealchemyThe seed of gold; an alchemical means of creating gold.

    Of your elixir, your lac Virginis, Your stone, your med'cine , and your chrysosperm

    3 more examples

    How sir! When you have not tried my chrysosperm and marchesyte?

    1857, Thomas (of Swarraton, armiger, pseud.), The Noble Traytour, page 232

    This substance was the original principle of all matter, the alpha and omega, the general solvent, the universal menstruum, the mighty mastery, the great king, the fiery tincture, the helmeted hero, the bird of Hermes, the seal of Solomon, the powder of projection, the chrysosperm, the subject of the sages, the flower of the sun, the elemental soul, the perfect ruby, the red hyacinth, the fire of nature, the water of life, in a word, the philosopher's stone.

    1893, “The Black Art”, in The Pall Mall Magazine, volume 1, page 54

    For our most excellent celestial fixed water will open up the fiery volatile body and draw out a secret running white sulphur which the philosophers call chrysosperm ['gold seed'], that is, the soul of the metals.

    2007, Patrick Harpur, Mercurius, Or, the Marriage of Heaven & Earth, page 165
  2. poeticuncountableSunlight, which turns the world golden.

    The chrysosperm in sunbeams pent A largesse squandered.

    1909, John Davidson, “Liverpool Street Station”, in Fleet Street: And Other Poems, page 49
    1 more example

    Of dusky light escaped the journeying clouds That hid the ample sun and left his beams A deeper hue of topaz, chrysosperm To milt the earth with harvest;

    1904, John Davidson, Testaments: The testament of a prime minister, page 50

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekχρυσός“gold”
  2. Englishchrysosperm

From Ancient Greek χρυσός (khrusós, “gold”) + σπέρμα (spérma, “seed, semen”), equivalent to chryso- + sperm.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

chrysosperm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chrysosperm

MLA

“chrysosperm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chrysosperm. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chrysosperm,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chrysosperm.

Source: chrysosperm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.