A variety of gemstone that is characteristically yellow but varies from golden-yellow and brown to yellowish-green or bluish-green. Such stones aretransparent and do not alter colour under varying illumination, hence are sometimes confused with sapphire. The dark-green variety isalexandrite. A colourless variety is rare, and seldom used as a gemstone.The popular variety displays good chatoyancy; it was formerly known as cymophane, but now is called 'chrysoberylcat's-eye' or occasionally 'Oriental cat's-eye'.The yellowish-green variety has sometimes been confused with peridot and spodumene. The transparent stones are faceted, usually mixed cut, but those that are cloudy or chatoyant are cuten cabochon. The name is derived from Greek chrysos (gold).