jewel

 
Pronunciation: /ˈdʒuːəl/

noun

  • a precious stone, typically a single crystal or piece of a hard lustrous or translucent mineral cut into shape with flat facets or smoothed and polished for use as an ornament.
  • (usually jewels) an ornament or piece of jewellery containing a precious stone or stones: she loved dressing up in her jewels the Crown Jewels
  • a hard precious stone used as a bearing in a watch, compass, or other device.
  • a very pleasing or valued person or thing; a very fine example: she was a jewel of a nurse

Phrases

the jewel in the (or one's) crown

the most valuable or successful part of something: Galway is the jewel in the crown of the Irish racing industry

Origin:

Middle English: from Old French joel, from jeu 'game, play', from Latin jocus 'jest'

Spelling help

Remember that jewel ends in a single l. The related words jewelled, jewellery, and jeweller follow the usual rule that you should double the l when adding endings which begin with a vowel to words which end in a vowel plus l (the spellings jeweled, jewelery, and jeweler are American).