Alabastrine

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the smooth, pale, translucent whiteness characteristic of alabaster stone
2. Looking like fine white alabaster, with a soft and glossy surface
3. Pale and smooth in the manner of the gypsum stone called alabaster

Etymology: "Alabastrine" is formed from "alabaster" plus the adjectival suffix "-ine," which denotes a quality or resemblance, so it means resembling alabaster. Alabaster itself comes via Latin "alabastrum" from Greek "alabastros," the name of a fine-grained, translucent stone and of the small perfume flasks carved from it. The flask sense is the older one, and it is why the stone was named after a container rather than the reverse. Writers in English have used "alabastrine" to describe skin, marble and anything with a smooth, pale, faintly luminous surface, a sense that follows directly from the stone's appearance. Because the word is simply the adjective of an established noun, its meaning stays close to the physical object it describes.

Synonyms: alabaster-like, translucent, white, pale