Standard Lemma guide

corundum

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK, US: /kəˈɹʌn.dəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: K ER0 AH1 N D AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An extremely hard mineral, a form of aluminum oxide with the chemical formula Al2O3, that occurs in the form of the gemstones sapphire and ruby; it is used as an abrasive.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: chemistry, geography, geology, mineralogy, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

very hard mineral used as an abrasive

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: corundom

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mineral

Narrower terms: alumina, aluminum oxide, aluminium oxide, ruby, sapphire

History

Etymology

From Tamil குருந்தம் (kuruntam, “ruby, sapphire”) First attested in the early 18th century.

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: سَامُور (sāmūr) — mineral
  • Armenian: կորունդ (korund) — mineral
  • Azerbaijani: korund — mineral
  • Belarusian: карунд (karund) — mineral
  • Bulgarian: корунд (korund) — mineral
  • Catalan: corindó — mineral
  • Chinese: 剛玉 /刚玉 (gāngyù) — mineral
  • Czech: korund — mineral
  • Danish: korund — mineral
  • Dutch: korund — mineral
  • Estonian: korund — mineral
  • Faroese: korund — mineral
  • Finnish: korundi — mineral
  • French: corindon — mineral
  • Galician: corindón — mineral
  • Georgian: კორუნდი (ḳorundi) — mineral
  • German: Korund — mineral
  • Greek: κορούνδιο (koroúndio) — mineral
  • Hebrew: קורונדום (qorundum) — mineral
  • Hindi: कुरुविंद (kuruvind) — mineral
  • Hindi: कुरंड (kuraṇḍ) — mineral
  • Hindi: कुरुल (kurul) — mineral
  • Hungarian: korund — mineral
  • Indonesian: korundum — mineral
  • Italian: corindone — mineral
  • Japanese: コランダム (korandamu) — mineral
  • Japanese: 鋼玉 (kōgyoku) — mineral
  • Latvian: korunds — mineral
  • Lithuanian: korundas — mineral
  • Malay: korundum — mineral
  • Navajo: tsé béésh bee daakʼaashígíí — mineral
  • Persian: کرندوم (korondum) — mineral
  • Polish: korund — mineral
  • Portuguese: corundo — mineral
  • Portuguese: corindo — mineral
  • Romanian: corindon — mineral
  • Russian: кору́нд (korúnd) — mineral
  • Sanskrit: कुरुविन्द (kuruvinda) — mineral
  • Spanish: corindón — mineral
  • Swedish: korund — mineral
  • Tamil: குருந்தம் (kuruntam) — mineral
  • Thai: กะรุน (gà-run) — mineral
  • Thai: คอรันดัม (kɔɔ-ran-dam) — mineral
  • Turkish: korindon — mineral
  • Turkish: korendon — mineral
  • Ukrainian: кору́нд (korúnd) — mineral
  • Uzbek: korund — mineral