Standard Lemma guide

porphyry

name · noun · 4 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.

  • /ˈpɔɹ.fɪ.ɹi/
  • /ˈpɔɹ.fə.ɹi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P AO1 R F ER0 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

name

Meaning 1

A Tyrian Neoplatonic philosopher.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A hard igneous rock consisting of large crystals in a fine-grained matrix.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: geography, geology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A hard igneous rock consisting of large crystals in a fine-grained matrix.

A purple-red rock of this kind.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: geography, geology, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

any igneous rock with crystals embedded in a finer groundmass of minerals

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: porphyritic rock

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: igneous rock

History

Etymology

From Old French porfire, from Ancient Greek πορφυρίτης λίθος (porphurítēs líthos, “purple stone”), from πορφύρα (porphúra, “purple-fish, purple dye”).

Across languages

Translations

32 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: فَرْفُورِيُوس (farfūriyūs) — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Armenian: Պորփյուր (Porpʻyur) — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Catalan: Porfiri — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Finnish: Porfyrios — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • French: Porphyre — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Greek: Πορφύριος (Porfýrios) — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Italian: Porfirio — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Latin: Porphyrius — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Polish: Porfiriusz — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Portuguese: Porfírio — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Russian: Порфи́рий (Porfírij) — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Spanish: Porfirio — Neoplatonic philosopher
  • Catalan: pòrfir — crystal
  • Chinese Mandarin: 斑岩 (bānyán) — crystal
  • Finnish: porfyyri — crystal
  • French: porphyre — crystal
  • French: porphyrie — crystal
  • Georgian: პორფირი (ṗorpiri) — crystal
  • Greek: πορφυρίτης (porfyrítis) — crystal
  • Hindi: सुम्माक़ (summāq) — crystal
  • Indonesian: porfiria — crystal
  • Italian: porfido — crystal
  • Japanese: 斑岩 (hangan) — crystal
  • Korean: 반암 (banam) — crystal
  • Portuguese: pórfiro — crystal
  • Romanian: porfiră — crystal
  • Romanian: porfir — crystal
  • Russian: порфир (porfir) — crystal
  • Spanish: pórfido — crystal
  • Old Spanish: arroham — crystal
  • Turkish: somaki — crystal
  • Urdu: سماق (summāq) — crystal