Agate vs. Onyx

A semi-pellucid, uncrystallized variety of quartz, presenting various tints in the same specimen, with colors delicately arranged in stripes or bands, or blended in clouds.

The size of type between pearl and nonpareil, standardized as 5½-point.

One fourteenth of an inch

A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals.

(countable) A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.;—so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.

(countable) A marble made from agate.

A testicle.

(obsolete) On the way; agoing.

Example: ‘to be agate; to set the bells agate’;

On the way; agoing; as, to be agate; to set the bells agate.

A semipellucid, uncrystallized variety of quartz, presenting various tints in the same specimen. Its colors are delicately arranged in stripes or bands, or blended in clouds.

A kind of type, larger than pearl and smaller than nonpareil; in England called ruby.

A diminutive person; so called in allusion to the small figures cut in agate for rings and seals.

A tool used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.; - so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.

an impure form of quartz consisting of banded chalcedony; used as a gemstone and for making mortars and pestles

Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, consisting of a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks.

(mineral) A banded variety of chalcedony, a cryptocrystalline form of quartz.

A jet-black color, named after the gemstone.

jet-black

Chalcedony in parallel layers of different shades of color. It is used for making cameos, the figure being cut in one layer with the next as a ground.

Same as Mexican onyx.

A deep jet-black color.

Deep, jet-black.

a chalcedony with alternating black and white bands; used in making cameos

a semi-precious variety of agate with different colours in layers

Example: ‘an onyx ashtray’;

Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of the silicate mineral chalcedony. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands.