coral: [14] Coral may ultimately be of Semitic origin (Hebrew gōrāl ‘pebble’ has been compared), but the first record we have of it is as Greek korállion, which came to English via Latin corallum or corallium and Old French coral. Until the 17th century, the word was applied exclusively to the red coral (Corallium nobile); hence its use, since the early 16th century, for a ‘rich red colour’. [coral etymology, coral origin, 英语词源]