amber

Meanings

1. A hard, golden-brown material formed from ancient tree resin, used in jewelry.
2. A warm yellow-orange color.

Example sentences

• "She wore a necklace of polished amber."

  Level A2, Meaning 1

• "The traffic light turned amber, so I slowed down."

  Level A2, Meaning 2

• "The maple leaves glowed amber in the evening sun."

  Level B1, Meaning 2

• "A tiny insect was trapped inside the amber."

  Level B1, Meaning 1

Look-alikes and common mistakes

• yellow : Yellow is the general color. Amber is a deeper yellow-orange, like honey.
• resin : Resin is the sticky sap from a tree. Amber is the hard form that resin turns into over a very long time.

Word family and forms

Forms: ambers

Word partners

Words and phrases that often go with "amber".

• an amber necklace
• amber light
• an amber alert
• golden amber
• amber and green
• turn to amber

Origin

Amber came into English in the 1300s from Old French ambre, which took it from Medieval Latin ambra and from the Arabic word anbar, which named ambergris, a waxy substance from whales. The same word was used for the golden resin, and the two were confused, perhaps because both were rare and valuable and were found on the coast.

Checked against: Wiktionary, the free dictionary, Dictionary.com.

Usage notes

"Amber" is also the name for the yellow-orange traffic light between green and red.

How to remember it

Amber starts with am and ends with ber. Remember it as a golden jewel: amBER.

Test yourself

Learn next at A1

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