HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H3958
לֶ֫שֶׁם
le.shem — jacinth
1) a precious stone 1a) a precious stone in the high priest's breast-plate 1a1) probably jacinth or ligure
2 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
Jacinth
Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
Historical dictionary entry
Properly a flower of a reddish blue or deep purple (hyacinth), and hence a precious stone of that colour (Rev. 21:20). It has been supposed to designate the same stone as the ligure (Heb. leshem) mentioned in Ex. 28:19 as the first stone of the third row in the high priest’s breast-plate. In Rev. 9:17 the word is simply descriptive of colour.
Scripture references
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.