Jewellery
Decorative items worn for personal adornment across cultures and history.
Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons
Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. It may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a Western perspective, the term is restricted to durable ornaments, excluding flowers. Jewellery is one of the oldest types of archaeological artefacts, with 100,000-year-old beads made from Nassarius shells thought to be the oldest known jewellery.
- field
- Personal adornment and decorative art
- materials
- Gold, silver, gemstones, glass, shells, wood, enamel
- oldest_example
- 100,000-year-old Nassarius shell beads
- etymology
- From Latin 'jocale' meaning plaything
- spelling_variants
- Jewellery (British, Indian, etc.) and jewelry (American)
Lore & Background
Jewellery has been made from a wide range of materials, including precious metals like gold and silver, gemstones, glass, shells, and wood. Enamel is often important in jewelry making. In many cultures, jewellery can be understood as a status symbol because of its material, patterns, or meaningful symbols. Jewellery has been made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings, and even genital jewellery. In modern European culture, the amount worn by adult males is relatively low compared with other cultures and other periods in European culture. Jewellery designed to be worn for long periods, created without a clasp or opening, or always worn is called permanent jewellery.
Reader's Guide
Jewellery has served multiple functions throughout history: functional (fixing clothing or hair), as a marker of social and personal status (such as wedding rings), as a signifier of ethnic, religious, or social affiliation, for talismanic protection (amulets), as artistic display, and as a carrier of personal meaning like love, mourning, or luck. Many items, such as brooches and buckles, originated as purely functional items but evolved into decorative ones. Jewellery can symbolise group membership (e.g., Christian crucifix or Jewish Star of David) or status (e.g., chains of office or wedding rings). Wearing amulets and devotional medals for protection is common in some cultures. Diamonds, first mined in India, became popular in engagement rings after the marriage of Maximilian I to Mary of Burgundy in 1477. The British crown jewels contain the Cullinan Diamond, part of the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found in 1905. Other gemstones like amber, amethyst, emerald, jade, jasper, quartz, ruby, and sapphire have been treasured for their colour, rarity, hardness, and optical properties.
Did You Know?
- The oldest known jewellery is 100,000-year-old beads made from Nassarius shells.
- The word jewellery derives from the Latin 'jocale', meaning plaything.
- Diamonds were first mined in India and became popular in engagement rings after the marriage of Maximilian I to Mary of Burgundy in 1477.
- The Cullinan Diamond, part of the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found in 1905, is in the British crown jewels.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Jewellery in the context of clothing and accessories?
Jewellery refers to decorative items worn on the body or fastened to garments for personal adornment. Typical pieces include rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, brooches, pendants, and cufflinks.
What materials can Jewellery be made from?
Jewellery is crafted from a broad range of substances, including gold, silver, gemstones, glass, shells, wood, and enamel. The material choice often reflects the cultural tradition or aesthetic the wearer is drawing from.
What is the oldest known piece of Jewellery ever discovered?
The earliest recognised jewellery dates back approximately 100,000 years and takes the form of small beads carved from Nassarius shells. These ancient ornaments are among the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts of any kind.
Where does the word 'Jewellery' come from?
The term ultimately derives from the Latin word 'jocale,' which originally carried the sense of a plaything or small trinket. It gradually shifted in English to denote the broader category of decorative personal adornments.
Is 'Jewellery' different from 'Jewelry'?
No, both spellings point to the identical category of decorative accessories. 'Jewellery' is the standard spelling in British, Indian, and most Commonwealth English, while 'jewelry' is the preferred form in American English.
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