The meaning of CHATOYANT is having a changeable luster or color with an undulating narrow band of white light. How to use chatoyant in a sentence. Did you know?

The chatoyant effect is typically characterized by one or more well-defined bands of reflected light, reminiscent of a cat's eye, which appear to glide across the material's surface as the chatoyant object or observer shifts position.

Excellent specimens of chrysoberyl exhibit the finest chatoyance, and tiger's-eye is the chatoyant gem most widely used in jewelry. Chatoyance occurs in stones that contain a large number of very thin parallel inclusions within the stone, known as a "silk."

The term chatoyancy comes from the French word “chatoyant,” which means “shiny” or “reflecting light,” and is derived from the word “chat” (cat). This optical phenomenon occurs when light reflects off fibrous or needle-like inclusions within a gemstone , producing a distinct, narrow band of light that moves as the gemstone is ...

Classic examples of cat’s eye effect caused by solid inclusions are chatoyant varieties of quartz, such as tiger’s eye, bull’s eye and hawk’s eye, with solid fibrous inclusions of amphiboles. Chatoyancy in quartz from Brazil, caused by crocidolite inclusions.

Sep 10, 2024 · Gemstones or minerals that show this optical phenomenon are said to be chatoyant. Tiger’s eye, hawk’s, or falcon’s eye are variations of chatoyant gemstones and minerals. The term chatoyancy is of French origin. It comes from the word ‘chat oeil’ or ‘oeil de chat’ which means the eyes of a cat.

CHATOYANT definition: having changeable lustre ; twinkling | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples

May 24, 2023 · Cymophane, or cat’s eye, is a yellowish variety of chatoyant chrysoberyl that displays the clearest cat’s eye effect of all gemstones that results from microscopic rutile needle-like inclusions or tube-like cavities.

There are three meanings listed in OED's entry for the word chatoyant. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

chatoyant - varying in color when seen in different lights or from different angles; "changeable taffeta"; "chatoyant (or shot) silk"; "a dragonfly hovered, vibrating and iridescent"