*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of jade

Borrowed from French le jade, rebracketing of earlier l'éjade (“jade”), from Spanish piedra de ijada (“flank stone”), via Vulgar Latin *iliata from Latin ilia (“flank”). (Jade was thought to cure pains in the side.)

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
adj

Of a grayish shade of green, typical of jade stones.

noun

A semiprecious stone, either nephrite or jadeite, generally green or white in color, often used for carving figurines. · A bright shade of slightly bluish or greyish green, typical of polished jade stones. · A succulent plant, Crassula ovata.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Borrowed from French le jade, rebracketing of earlier l'éjade (“jade”), from Spanish piedra de ijada (“flank stone”), via Vulgar Latin *iliata from Latin ilia (“flank”). (Jade was thought to cure pains in the side.)

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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    {
      "name": "etymid",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "stone"
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "bor",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "le jade"
      },
      "expansion": "French le jade"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "es",
        "3": "piedra de ijada",
        "t": "flank stone"
      },
      "expansion": "Spanish piedra de ijada (“flank stone”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la-vul",
        "3": "*iliata"
      },
      "expansion": "Vulgar Latin *iliata"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "ilia",
        "t": "flank"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin ilia (“flank”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "jadeite",
      "jadeite"
    ],
    [
      "jade",
      "jade#French"
    ],
    [
      "l'éjade",
      "éjade#French"
    ],
    [
      "piedra",
      "piedra#Spanish"
    ],
    [
      "de",
      "de#Spanish"
    ],
    [
      "ijada",
      "ijada#Spanish"
    ],
    [
      "*iliata",
      "Reconstruction:Latin/iliata"
    ],
    [
      "ilia",
      "ilia#Latin"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "adj",
      "glosses": [
        "Of a grayish shade of green, typical of jade stones."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
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    },
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      "glosses": [
        "A semiprecious stone, either nephrite or jadeite, generally green or white in color, often used for carving figurines.",
        "A bright shade of slightly bluish or greyish green, typical of polished jade stones.",
        "A succulent plant, Crassula ovata."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ],
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 193227
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Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
noun

A horse too old to be put to work. · A bad-tempered or disreputable woman.

verb

To fatigue, tire, or weary (someone or something). · To treat (someone or something) like a jade; to spurn. · To make (someone or something) contemptible and ridiculous.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English jade, chade, either a variant of yaud or merely influenced by it. Yaud derives from Old Norse jalda (“mare”), from a Uralic language, such as Moksha эльде (elde) or Erzya эльде (elde). See yaud for more.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "etymid",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "horse; tire"
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "jade"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English jade"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "jalda",
        "4": "",
        "5": "mare"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse jalda (“mare”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "urj"
      },
      "expansion": "Uralic"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "mdf",
        "3": "эльде"
      },
      "expansion": "Moksha эльде (elde)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "myv",
        "3": "эльде"
      },
      "expansion": "Erzya эльде (elde)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "jade",
      "jade#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "chade",
      "chade#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "yaud",
      "yaud#English"
    ],
    [
      "Yaud",
      "yaud#English"
    ],
    [
      "jalda",
      "jalda#Old_Norse"
    ],
    [
      "эльде",
      "эльде#Moksha"
    ],
    [
      "эльде",
      "эльде#Erzya"
    ],
    [
      "yaud",
      "yaud#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
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        "A horse too old to be put to work.",
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      ],
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        "derogatory",
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      ],
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        "To fatigue, tire, or weary (someone or something).",
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        "To make (someone or something) contemptible and ridiculous."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive",
        "obsolete"
      ],
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Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for jade →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-amFkZQ