balas

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a pale red or rose-coloured spinel historically called a balas ruby and often mistaken for true ruby

   The medieval crown was set with a large balas rather than a corundum ruby.

Through Old French balais and Arabic from Persian forms associated with Badakhshan, the Central Asian region famous for red spinel. Balas rubies were long classed with true rubies, but mineralogy established that they are spinel rather than corundum.

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