Earth & SkyGreek → English
Emery
/ˈɛməri/noun
A dark granular rock used as an abrasive for grinding and polishing.
The Greek roots
σμύρις
smýris
abrasive powder
Literally: “polishing powder”
Follow a root:σμύρις1 word
The story of the word
The abrasive came from the Aegean, most of it quarried on Naxos, and the Greeks called the powder σμύρις. Italian traders made it smeriglio, French made it émeri, and English dropped the initial s. The rock is corundum mixed with iron oxide, hard enough to grind glass and cheap enough to glue onto a nail board.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Medieval Greek → Italian → French → English
- First recorded
- 15th century
Same family
emery boardemery cloth
In a sentence
She smoothed the edge with an emery board before painting the nail.