Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Zircon |
ZirconNoun1. A common mineral occurring in small crystals; chief source of zirconium; used as a refractory when opaque and as a gem when transparent. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "zircon" was first used: 1794. (references) |
Etymology: Zircon \Zir"con\, noun. [French expression, the same word as jargon. See Jargon variety of zircon.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Industry | Zircon orthosilicate; this term is also applied by extension to a rock containing a major proportion of this mineral. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A tetragonal mineral, ZrSiO4 ; occurs widely in granite, granite pegmatite, other felsic igneous rocks, and placers; the chief source of zirconium; a refractory; if cut and polished, the colorless varieties provide exceptionally brilliant gemstones. Syn:azorite; zirconite;hyacinth; jacinth. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
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| Optical microscope photography. The length of the crystal is about 250µm. |
Zircon is a remarkable mineral, if only for its almost ubiquitous presence in the crust of Earth. It is found in magmatic rocks (as primary crystallization products), in metamorphic rocks (as recrystallized grains) and in sedimentary rocks (as detrital grains). Large zircon crystals are seldom abundant. Their average size, e.g. in granite rocks, is about 100-300 µm, but they can also grow to sizes of several centimeters, especially in pegmatites.
The pervasive occurrence of zircon has become more important since the discovery of radiometric dating. Zircons contain amounts of uranium and thorium (from 10 ppm up to 5 wt%) and can be dated using modern analytical techniques. Since zircons have the capability to survive geologic processes like erosion, transport, even high-grade metamorphism, they are used as protolith indicators. The oldest minerals found so far are zircons from the Narryer Gneiss Terrane, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, with an age of 4.404 billion years. This age is interpreted to be the age of crystallisation. These zircons are not only the oldest minerals on earth, they also show another interesting feature. Their oxygen isotopic composition suggests that more than 4.4 billion years ago there was already water on the surface of the earth.
Commercially, zircons are mined for the metal zirconium which is used for abrasive and isolating purposes. Bigger specimen are appreciated gemstones, owing to their high refraction (zicon has a refraction of around 1.95, diamond of around 2.4). The color of zircons that don't have gem quality can be changed by treating with heat. Depending on the amount of heat applied, colorless, blue and golden-yellow zircons can be made.
The name derives from the Arabic word zarqun, meaning vermillion, or perhaps from the Persian zargun, meaning golden-colored. These words are corrupted into "jargoon", a term applied to light-colored zircons. Yellow zircon is called hyacinth, from a word of East Indian origin; in the Middle Ages all yellow stones of East Indian origin were called hyacinth but today this term is restricted to the yellow zircons.
See also: list of minerals
Physical properties:
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Zircon."
Synonym: ZirconSynonym: zirconium silicate (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Jewelry | Diamond, brilliant, rock; beryl, emerald; chalcedony, agate, heliotrope; girasol, girasole; onyx, plasma; sard, sardonyx; garnet, lapis lazuli, opal, peridot, tourmaline, chrysolite; sapphire, ruby, synthetic ruby; spinel, spinelle; balais; oriental, oriental topaz; turquois, turquoise; zircon, cubic zirconia; jacinth, hyacinth, carbuncle, amethyst; alexandrite, cat's eye, bloodstone, hematite, jasper, moonstone, sunstone. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Zircon |
| English words defined with "zircon": atomic number 40 ♦ hyacinth ♦ jacinth, jargon, jargoon ♦ Norium ♦ zirconium, Zirconoid, Zr. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "zircon": azorite ♦ beach mining, brazilite ♦ cyrtolite ♦ fired stone, fission tracks ♦ hafnium silicate, heavy mineral, huttonite ♦ malacon, monzonite ♦ pleochroic halo ♦ quartz latite, quartz monzonite ♦ satellites, Starlite ♦ unakite ♦ zircon flour, zircon group, zirconiferous, zirconite, zirconium minerals, Zirkite. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "zircon": Jargonelle. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Zircon" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. French (zircon). |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Consumer Goods |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Australia | The state produces 40 percent of the world's diamonds; 44 percent of its zircon; 22 percent of its alumna; 13 percent of its iron ore; and 9 percent of its gold, nickel and LNG. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Zircon" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 94.74% of the time. "Zircon" is used about 19 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 94.74% | 18 | 82,615 |
| Noun (proper) | 5.26% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 19 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "zircon": zircon light ♦ zircon syenite. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
zircon | 159 | cubic jewelry zircon | 3 |
blue zircon | 51 | zircon gem stone | 3 |
blue crystal zircon | 24 | casting investment zircon | 3 |
white zircon | 10 | ir spectrum zircon | 3 |
zircon ring | 8 | laser zircon | 3 |
cubic zircon | 7 | man zircon | 2 |
zircon stud finder | 6 | corporation zircon | 2 |
blue zircon ring | 6 | aquamarine blue white zircon zircon | 2 |
zircon jewelry | 6 | qlogic zircon | 2 |
sand zircon | 5 | isensor zircon | 2 |
cubic man zircon | 5 | cubic zircon ring | 2 |
rose zircon | 5 | ||
cubic zircon ring | 2 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "zircon"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | zirkon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | الزركون. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | цирконий, циркон. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | "石. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | zirkon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | zirkoniumsilikat (zirconium silicate), zirkon (zirconium silicate), zircon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | zirkoonsilicaat (zirconium silicate), zirkoon (zirconium silicate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | zirkoniumsilikaatti (zirconium silicate), zirkoni (zirconium silicate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | zircon (zirconium silicate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Zirkon (zirconium silicate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | πυριτικό ζιρκόνιο (zirconium silicate), ζιρκόνιο (zirconium), ζιρκονίτησ. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | cirkon (hyacinth). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | zircone (zirconium silicate). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | sercon. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | irconzay zircão (zirconium silicate). (various references) циркон. (various references) cirkon. (various references) circón (zirconium silicate). (various references) zirkon. (various references) циркон. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Arabic | 500-Modern | zarqun. (various references) |
| Persian | 800-Modern | zargun. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "zircon": zirconia, zirconias, zirconic, zirconium, zirconiums, zircons. (additional references) | |
| |
"Zircon" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Sewrckn, zarkon, zeron, zicon, zirc, ziron. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "zircon" (pronounced zer"kun) |
| 3 | -k u n | awaken, bacon, beacon, beckon, blacken, bracken, broken, chicken, darken, deacon, drunken, falcon, forsaken, gascon, harken, heartbroken, housebroken, interleukin, lichen, liken, Macon, misspoken, mistaken, outspoken, overtaken, Pekin, pelican, Pipkin, pumpkin, quicken, reawaken, reckon, republican, retaken, second, shaken, shrunken, sicken, silicon, slacken, spoken, stricken, sunken, taken, thicken, token, unbroken, undertaken, unshaken, unspoken, waken, weaken, woken. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-i-n-o-r-z" | |
-1 letter: orcin. | |
-2 letters: cion, coin, coir, coni, corn, icon, inro, iron, noir, nori, zinc, zoic, zori. | |
-3 letters: con, cor, coz, ion, nor, orc, rin, roc, zin. | |
-4 letters: in, no, on, or. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-i-n-o-r-z" | |
+1 letter: zircons. | |
+2 letters: cognizer, zirconia, zirconic, zorching. | |
+3 letters: carbonize, cognizers, colonizer, micronize, narcotize, recognize, zirconias, zirconium. | |
+4 letters: calorizing, carbonized, carbonizes, chromizing, colonizers, colorizing, comprizing, concertize, concretize, creolizing, economizer, exorcizing, micronized, micronizes, narcotized, narcotizes, recognized, recognizer, recognizes, recolonize, zirconiums. | |
+5 letters: carbonizing, chernozemic, concertized, concertizes, concretized, concretizes, conveyorize, decarbonize, economizers, eroticizing, factorizing, micronizing, narcotizing, necrotizing, ostracizing, recognizers, recognizing, recolonized, recolonizes, rhizoctonia, romanticize, synchronize. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Non-fiction 6. Usage Frequency 7. Expressions 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Translations: Ancient 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
