AMBER
What does "AMBER" mean?
Fossilized tree resin, typically translucent yellow-orange, used as a gem.
Meanings
- Hardened, fossilized resin from ancient trees, often used in jewellery and sometimes preserving trapped insects. A mosquito sat perfectly preserved in a bead of amber.
- A warm yellowish-orange or honey colour. The whisky glowed a deep amber in the firelight.
- The yellow signal of a traffic light, meaning prepare to stop. He sped up as the light turned amber.
- Of a warm honey-yellow colour. Her amber eyes caught the lamplight.
Did you know?
- The word 'amber' first meant ambergris - a waxy material from sperm whales - before it was transferred to fossil tree resin; for centuries Europeans muddled the two substances under one name.
- Amber is why we say 'electricity': the Greek name for amber was 'elektron', and because rubbing amber makes it attract light objects, that name became the root of 'electron' and 'electric'.
Word origin
From Arabic 'ʿanbar', which first meant ambergris (a waxy substance from whales); via Medieval Latin and Old French the word migrated to the fossil resin, and the two substances were long confused.
Remember it
AMBER glows the colour of a traffic light's middle eye - the warm honey 'wait' between red and green.
A little poem
A gnat from no spring
we ever knew hangs midflight-
the resin said: stay.
haiku
What it teaches
Amber teaches that what once flowed can become the very thing that preserves; even sap can outlast the tree.
Quick facts
What does AMBER mean?
Fossilized tree resin, typically translucent yellow-orange, used as a gem.
Is AMBER a valid word?
Yes — AMBER is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is AMBER?
AMBER has 5 letters and 2 syllables.
Where does AMBER come from?
From Arabic 'ʿanbar', which first meant ambergris (a waxy substance from whales); via Medieval Latin and Old French the word migrated to the fossil resin, and the two substances were long confused.
What can AMBER teach us?
Amber teaches that what once flowed can become the very thing that preserves; even sap can outlast the tree.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.