Meaning

noun a compact fine-textured, usually white gypsum used for carving

noun a hard compact kind of calcite

noun a very light white

originFrom Middle English alabastre, from Old French alabastre, from Latin alabaster (“box for perfumes or unguents”), from Ancient Greek ἀλάβαστρος (alábastros), from earlier ἀλάβαστος (alábastos, “vase without handles for storing perfumes”). This may further derive from Egyptian ꜥj-r-bꜣstjt (“vessel of the Egyptian goddess Bast”). The Latin suffix -aster is unrelated, but may have influenced the…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0