The name Beryl is from the ancient Greek “Beryllos” for the precious blue-green color of sea water. This was originally applied to all green gemstones, but later used only for Beryl. Some scholars believe the word Beryl is related to the ancient trading city of Belur or perhaps came from the word Pearl known as “Velurya” in old Hindi and “Vaidurya” in Sanskrit.

Beryl is, when absolutely pure, totally devoid of color. Small amounts of metallic elements can be present in the crystal structure, giving rise to many color variations. Aquamarine, Bixbite, Emerald, Fire Beryl™ - Goshenite and Heliodor are all members of the Beryl family.

Gemstone color varieties that belong to Beryl with specific names are listed below. All other colors of Beryl being simply referred to by their color (e.g. Yellow Beryl):
 

Beryl is famous for their perfect, six-sided prismatic hexagon crystals that usually occur individually. These are often enormous and some 8 meter, well-crystallized examples are known to have existed.

All Beryl varieties can be faceted into various gem cuts, and some Beryl displays phenomena including asterism (star effect), chatoyancy (cat’s eye effect) and an unusual effect in Emerald called trapichism.