nephrite

English · Deutsch

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

nephrite

/ˈnɛfˌɹaɪt/

Where it comes from

From Latin lapis nephriticus, via Ancient Greek λίθος (líthos) νεφριτικός (nephritikós), meaning kidney stone, because jade was believed to have cured kidney stones.

noun nephrites

countable, uncountable A semi-precious stone, one of the two types of stone commonly referred to as jade (the other being jadeite). Occurrences of nephrite are more numerous. China’s most important source throughout its history has been the region of Khotan (Ho-t‘ien) and Yarkand in Central Asia. In more recent times the Chinese have also imported nephrite from the neighbourhood of Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia.

Translations

Every language

noun semi-precious stone

Español	nefrita
日本語	軟玉 nangyoku
中文	軟玉 /软玉 ruǎnyù, 玉 yù
Français	néphrite
Deutsch	Nephrit
Italiano	nefrite
Ελληνικά	νεφρίτης nefrítis

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"nephrite." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/nephrite. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

APA

nephrite. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 7, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/nephrite

Chicago

"nephrite." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 7, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/nephrite.

BibTeX

@misc{nephrite_2026,
  title = {nephrite},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/nephrite},
  urldate = {2026-11-07}
}