ruby

See also: Ruby

English

A ruby (gem).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹuː.bi/
• Rhymes: -uːbi

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Middle English ruby, rube, from Old French rubi, from Medieval Latin rubīnus.

Noun

ruby (countable and uncountable, plural rubies)

1. A clear, deep, red variety of corundum, valued as a precious stone.
   • 2012 March, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 June 2012, page 128:

     Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are diamond, ruby and sapphire, emerald and other gem forms of the mineral beryl, chrysoberyl, tanzanite, tsavorite, topaz and jade.

2. (obsolete) A red spinel.
3. A deep red colour.

   ruby:  

   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

     When now I thinke you can behold such sights, / And keepe the naturall Rubie of your Cheekes, / When mine is blanch'd with feare.

4. (heraldry) The tincture red or gules.
   • 1720, Francis Nichols, Rudiments of Honour, page 296:

     Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; and the Field Topaz, and Saltier, and Chief Ruby, was the Arms of King Robert the Bruce, they altering the Field from Pearl (as he bore it) to Topaz.

   • 1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd; Or, an Abridgment of Guillim, page 504:

     The Field is Ruby, on a Bend Topaz, three Martlets Diamond. [...] Checkie Topaz and Saphire, a Fesse within a Bordure Ruby, by the Name of Clifford.

   • 1754, John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the ..., page 71:

     (1) Pearl, a Cross, Ruby, with the Effigies of our Saviour thereon, Topaz, born in Memory of one of the Family's fighting against the Turks. (2) Topaz, a Chief Indented, Saphire. (3) Ruby, three covered Cups, Topaz [...]

6. (uncountable, printing, UK, dated) The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5½-point.

   Synonym: (US) agate

7. A ruby hummer, a South American hummingbird, Clytolaema rubricauda.
8. A red bird-of-paradise, Paradisaea rubra.

Derived terms

• balas-ruby
• Colorado ruby
• rock ruby
• rose-a-ruby
• rubasse
• rubious
• ruby anniversary
• ruby blende
• ruby chocolate
• ruby jubilee
• Ruby on Rails
• ruby port
• ruby-red
• ruby red
• ruby silver
• ruby slippers
• ruby spinel
• ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)
• ruby tiger
• ruby wedding
• star ruby

 

Related terms

• corundum
• rouge
• rubicund
• rubric
• rufous
• russet

 

Translations

type of gem

• Afrikaans: robyn
• Albanian: rubin (sq) m
• Arabic: يَاقُوت (ar) m (yāqūt)

  Hijazi Arabic: ياقوت m (yāgūt)

• Armenian: սուտակ (hy) (sutak)
• Assamese: মাণিক (manik), ডালিমা (dalima), চুনী (suni)
• Asturian: rubín m
• Azerbaijani: yaqut (az), rubin
• Belarusian: рубі́н m (rubín)
• Bengali: মাণিক্য (bn) (manikko) ইয়াকুত (bn) (iẏakut), এয়াকুত (bn) (eẏakut)
• Bulgarian: руби́н (bg) m (rubín), рубинено червено (rubineno červeno)
• Burmese: ကျောက်နီ (my) (kyaukni)
• Catalan: robí (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 紅寶石／红宝石 (zh) (hóngbǎoshí)

• Crimean Tatar: yahut, qan taş
• Czech: rubín (cs) m
• Danish: rubin (da) c
• Dutch: robijn (nl) m or n
• Esperanto: rubeno (eo)
• Estonian: rubiin
• Faroese: rubinur m
• Finnish: rubiini (fi)
• French: rubis (fr) m
• Friulian: rubin m
• Galician: rubí m
• Georgian: ლალი (ka) (lali), ბადახში (ka) (badaxši)
• German: Rubin (de) m
• Greek: ρουμπίνι (el) n (roumpíni)

  Ancient: καρχηδόνιος m (karkhēdónios)

• Hebrew: אֹדֶם (he) m (ódem)
• Hindi: मानिक (hi) m (mānik), माणिक्य (hi) m (māṇikya), याक़ूत m (yāqūt), याकूत (hi) m (yākūt), लाल (hi) m (lāl), चूनी (hi) f (cūnī), चुन्नी (hi) f (cunnī)
• Hungarian: rubin (hu)
• Icelandic: rúbín m
• Indonesian: mirah (id)
• Irish: rúibín m
• Italian: rubino (it) m
• Japanese: ルビー (ja) (rubī), 紅玉 (こうぎょく, kōkyoku)
• Kazakh: лағыл (lağyl)
• Khmer: ត្បូងទទឹម (tboong tɔtɨm), ទទឹម (km) (tɔtɨm)
• Korean: 루비 (ko) (rubi)
• Latin: rubinus m
• Latvian: rubīns m
• Laz: მჭითა თოლი (mç̌ita toli)
• Lezgi: лаал (laal)
• Lithuanian: rubinas m
• Macedonian: рубин m (rubin)
• Malay: delima, bakam
• Malayalam: മാണിക്യം (ml) (māṇikyaṁ)
• Maori: rūpi
• Mingrelian: ლალი (lali)
• Mongolian: бадмаараг (mn) (badmaarag)
• Norman: rubis m
• Norwegian: rubin (no) m
• Persian: یاقوت (fa) (yâqut), یاکند (fa) (yâkand)
• Polish: rubin (pl) m
• Portuguese: rubi (pt) m
• Romanian: rubin (ro) n
• Russian: руби́н (ru) m (rubín)
• Sanskrit: माणिक्य (sa) n (māṇikya)
• Scottish Gaelic: rùbaidh f, dearg-sheud m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ру̀бӣн m

  Roman: rùbīn (sh) m

• Sinhalese: රතුකැට (ratukæṭa)
• Slovak: rubín (sk) m
• Slovene: rubin (sl) m
• Spanish: rubí (es) m
• Svan: ლა̈ლ (läl)
• Swahili: yakuti class 9/10
• Swedish: rubin (sv) c
• Tabasaran: якьут (jaq̇ut)
• Tagalog: rubi
• Tajik: ёқут (yoqut)
• Telugu: కెంపు (te) (kempu)
• Thai: ทับทิม (th) (táp-tim)
• Turkish: yakut (tr)
• Ukrainian: рубі́н m (rubín)
• Urdu: یاقوت (ur) ? (yāqūt)
• Uyghur: ياقۇت (yaqut)
• Uzbek: yoqut (uz)
• Vietnamese: hồng ngọc
• Volapük: rubain
• Welsh: rhuddem m or f
• Yiddish: רובין m (rubin)

colour

• Dutch: robijnrood (nl) ?
• Finnish: rubiininpunainen
• Georgian: წითელი ფერი (c̣iteli peri)
• German: Weinrot n, Rubinrot n
• Hungarian: rubinvörös (hu)
• Icelandic: rúbínrauður m (adjective)
• Portuguese: rubi (pt) m
• Romanian: rubiniu (ro) n
• Russian: руби́новый (ru) (rubínovyj)
• Turkish: yakudî
• Ukrainian: рубі́новий m (rubínovyj)
• Volapük: rubainaköl

5½-point type — see agate

Adjective

ruby (comparative more ruby, superlative most ruby)

1. Of a deep red colour.

Translations

of a deep red colour

• Bulgarian: рубинен (rubinen)
• Finnish: rubiininpunainen
• German: weinrot (de), rubinrot (de), tiefrot (de)
• Icelandic: rúbínrauður
• Polish: rubinowy (pl)
• Romanian: rubiniu (ro)
• Russian: руби́новый (ru) (rubínovyj)
• Volapük: rubainakölik

Verb

ruby (third-person singular simple present rubies, present participle rubying, simple past and past participle rubied)

1. (transitive, poetic) To make red; to redden.
   • 1725–1726, Homer, “Book 20”, in [William Broome, Elijah Fenton, and Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:

     With sanguine drops the walls are rubied

See also

• (reds) red; blood red, brick red, burgundy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, cerise, cherry, cherry red, Chinese red, cinnabar, claret, crimson, damask, fire brick, fire engine red, flame, flamingo, fuchsia, garnet, geranium, gules, hot pink, incarnadine, Indian red, magenta, maroon, misty rose, nacarat, oxblood, pillar-box red, pink, Pompeian red, poppy, raspberry, red violet, rose, rouge, ruby, ruddy, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, shocking pink, stammel, strawberry, Turkey red, Venetian red, vermilion, vinaceous, vinous, violet red, wine ^{(Category: en:Reds)}
• carbuncle
• corundum
• spinel
• Ruby on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Ruby”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “ruby”, in Mindat.org‎^[2], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.

Etymology 2

From the British 5½-point type size ruby (etymology 1), used for annotations in printed documents.

Noun

ruby (plural rubies)

2. (typography) A pronunciation guide written above or beside Chinese characters.

Alternative forms

• rubi

Descendants

• → Japanese: ルビ (rubi)

Translations

pronunciation guide

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 註音／注音 (zh) (zhùyīn), 標音／标音 (zh) (biāoyīn)

• Japanese: 振り仮名 (ja) (ふりがな, furigana), ルビ (ja) (rubi)
• Russian: ага́т (ru) m (agát), (indeclinable) ру́би (ru) m (rúbi)
• Vietnamese: chữ phiên âm, ký tự phiên âm, chữ ruby

See also

• furigana
• pinyin
• yomigana
• Zhuyin

 

Further reading

• Ruby characters on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• -bury, Bury, bury

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈrubɪ]

Noun

ruby

1. nominative/accusative/vocative/instrumental plural of rub

Middle English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Old French rubi, itself borrowed from Latin rubeus.

Alternative forms

• rebe, ribe, rube, rubee, rubie, rybe, ryby

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈriu̯biː/, /ˈriu̯beː/

Noun

ruby (plural rubies)

1. A ruby (red precious stone)
2. (figuratively) A precious individual.

Descendants

• English: ruby

References

• “rubī(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Verb

ruby

1. Alternative form of robben

Silesian

Alternative forms

• hruby

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *grubъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrubɨ/
• Rhymes: -ubɨ
• Syllabification: ru‧by

Adjective

ruby

1. fat, thick

Declension

Declension of ruby

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	virile	nonvirile
nominative		ruby	rube	rubŏ	rubi	rube
genitive		rubego		rubyj	rubych
dative		rubymu		rubyj	rubym
accusative	animate	rubego	rube	rubõ	rubych	rube
	inanimate	ruby
instrumental		rubym		rubōm	rubymi
locative		rubym		rubyj	rubych
vocative		ruby	rube	rubŏ	rubi	rube

Further reading

• ruby in silling.org