obsidian

From Latin obsidianus; named after Obsidius, who was, according to Pliny, the Roman who discovered the stone in Aethiopia.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌɒbˈsɪd.i.ən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US, also) IPA^(key): /əbˈsɪd.i.ən/
• Rhymes: -ɪdiən

obsidian (usually uncountable, plural obsidians)

1. (mineralogy) A type of naturally occurring black glass produced by volcanoes.

   Synonym: obby

   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 130:

     The Neolithic culture from 8000 to 6000 B.C., however, was a brilliant period of the revival of crafts, the transformation of gathering into gardening, the growth of a cross-cultural obsidian trade, and the rise of towns.

2. A slightly bluish black, the color of obsidian glass.

   obsidian:  

obsidian (comparative more obsidian, superlative most obsidian)

1. (poetic) Black.
   • 1975, “Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)”, in Nighthawks at the Diner, performed by Tom Waits:

     Looks like a yellow biscuit of a buttery cue ball moon / Rolling maverick across an obsidian sky

• anobiids

• IPA^(key): /ʌbsidiˈæˀn/

obsidian c or n (singular definite obsidianen or obsidianet, not used in plural form)

1. obsidian

• “obsidian” in Den Danske Ordbog
• “obsidian” in Ordbog over det danske Sprog

Internationalism, borrowed from Dutch obsidiaan, from Latin obsidianus.

• IPA^(key): /ɔp.si.ˈdi.an/
• Rhymes: -an, -n
• Hyphenation: ob‧si‧di‧an

obsidian (plural obsidian-obsidian)

1. (geology) obsidian

   Synonyms: batu kaca, batu kendan

• “obsidian” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Borrowed from French obsidiane, from Latin obsidiana.

obsidian n (plural obsidiane)

1. obsidian

• “obsidian”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

obsidian c

1. obsidian