Meaning

noun a precious or semiprecious stone incorporated into a piece of jewelry

noun a person who is as brilliant and precious as a piece of jewelry

verb adorn or decorate with precious stones

originFrom Middle English juel, jewel, juwel, jeuel, jowel, from Anglo-Norman juel, from Old French jouel, joel, joïel, hence French joyau, of uncertain origin. Perhaps based ultimately on Latin gaudium (“joy”), or on Latin iocus (“joke; jest”), or according to Pihan, from Arabic جَوْهَر (jawhar). Compare Medieval Latin jocale. Displaced native Old English māþm.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0