chatoyant

English

A chatoyant tiger's eye

Etymology

From French chatoyant, present participle of chatoyer (“to iridesce, like a cat's eye”), from chat (“cat”, because of the reflective qualities of a cat's eye).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ʃəˈtɔɪ.ənt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adjective

chatoyant (comparative more chatoyant, superlative most chatoyant)

1. (jewelry) Having a certain optical reflectance effect, which can be likened to the sheen of a spool of silk.

   chatoyant effect

   • 1913, Sax Rohmer, chapter XXIII, in The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu:

     I managed to move sufficiently to see at the top, as I fired up the stairs, the yellow face of Dr. Fu-Manchu, to see the gleaming, chatoyant eyes, greenly terrible, as they sought to pierce the gloom.

   • 2013, Gail Ritchey, Artful Polymer Clay: Techniques for Stylish Jewelry and Decor, Kalmbach Books, →ISBN, page 71:

     Cover a tin using two or more colors of chatoyant clay separated by black strips.

Related terms

• chatoyancy

Noun

chatoyant (plural chatoyants)

1. (mineralogy) A hard stone, such as the cat's-eye, which presents on a polished surface, and in the interior, an undulating or wavy light.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃa.twa.jɑ̃/

Participle

chatoyant

1. present participle of chatoyer

Adjective

chatoyant (feminine chatoyante, masculine plural chatoyants, feminine plural chatoyantes)

1. shimmering, iridescent

Further reading

• “chatoyant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.