English → Latin
“gem” in Latin
gemmaA bud or eye of a plant.; A gem, gemstone, jewel, precious stone.; A thing made of precious stones.gemmōto bud, put forth buds; to be adorned with gems and precious stones; to glitter, sparkledistinguōto distinguish; to separate, divide or part; to adorn or decorate
The English word gem itself goes back to Latin gemma.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
gem s.
Jewel (Vid :), gemma.
In Botany, gemma (Cic., Col., etc.). To put forth its gems, gemmare: gemmascere.
gem v.
gemmare (to set with jewels; in this sense only in passive partciple; mostly intransitive, gemmans sceptrum, etc.; and IMPROP., “gemmed with dew,” gemmans rore recenti, Lucr.): gemmis distinguere (e.g., a golden cup, Cic.): distinguere (to relieve a surface with ornaments placed at intervals).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for gem?
- The usual Latin words for “gem” are gemma, gemmō, distinguō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.