name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "pearl" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "pearl" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "pearl" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Check whether "pearl" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
Compare it with "acceptable person" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Before publishing a sentence with "pearl", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
"I see thee compassed with thy kingdom's pearl."
"Boast not of your eyes; it is feared you have Balaam's disease, a pearl in your eye, Mammon's prestriction."
"clinical pearls"
"My mouth and tongue finally find her pearl. Her clitoris."
"Errol. Pearl three Escutcheons Ruby. / Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; and the Field Topaz, and Saltier, and Chief Ruby, was the Arms of King Robert the Bruce, they altering the Field from Pearl (as he bore it) to Topaz."
"There is gold, and multitude of pearles: but a precious vessel the lips of knowledge."
"Syed Omar began to walk to the airport. Sweat pearled his tough brown skin, his fat bounced in rhythm."
"to pearl barley"
"A Teaching Company Scheme developing new technology for pearling light bulbs was established in October […]"
"I'm left here with the memory of all their shining words, like drops of water pearling on the window-pane"
"to go pearling"
"Used a pointed tip today and learned why I kept pearling with my round tipped board. Round noses like to dig into the water, causing frustrating wipeouts."
"He couldn't even turn the board or raise the nose. Consequently, the board pearled, nose-dived into the water, throwing Lee off almost like being thrown from a horse. But he persisted."
"Her Pearl!—For so had Hester called her; not as a name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned lustre that would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant "Pearl," as being of great price,—purchased with all she had,—her mother's only treasure!"
"The only news of interest brought by the Calcutta and China mail is that the river Pearl, in Southern China, had been explored by a party of the British to the distance of 195 miles."
"Hawaii is often referred to as "The Pearl of the Pacific.""
A shelly concretion, usually rounded, and having a brilliant luster, with varying tints, found in the mantle, or between the mantle and shell, of certain bivalve mollusks, especially in the pearl oysters and river mussels, and sometimes in certain univalves. It is usually due to a secretion of shelly substance around some irritating foreign particle. Its substance is the same as nacre, or mother-of-pearl. Round lustrous pearls are used in jewellery.
Common synonyms include: acceptable person, acier, alabaster, alabastrine, albescent, ashen.
Hawaii is often referred to as "The Pearl of the Pacific."
Pronounced /pɝl/.
From Middle English perle, from Old French perle of uncertain etymology. Probably via unattested Medieval Latin *pernula, from Latin perna (“haunch; a marine bivalve shaped like a leg of lamb”) but also derived from Medieval Latin perla, from Latin perula (“little bag”). Its typographic use follows the name given by Jean Jannon to the type used in his miniature editions of Vergil, Horace, & the New Testament in the 1620s, which were the smallest printed works to his time. Its surfing use derives from the supposed resemblance to pearl diving.
From pearl. * (river in China): From Chinese 珠江 (Zhūjiāng, Zyu1 Gong1, “Pearl River”); calque of Chinese 珠 (zhū, zyu1, “pearl”). * (haven in Hawaii): From Hawaiian Wai Momi (“pearl water”); calque of Hawaiian momi (“pearl”).