For the file system called Lustre, see Lustre (file system)
Lustre (American English: luster) is a description of the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock or mineral. For example, a diamond is said to have an adamantine lustre and pyrite is said to have a metallic lustre.
The word lustre traces its origins back to the Latin word lux, meaning "light", and generally implies radiance, gloss, or brilliance.
Other descriptive terms used for gems include vitreous, like glass; resinous, like amber; waxy, like jade; greasy, like soapstone; pearly; and silky.
The term is also used to describe other items with a particular sheen (for example, fabric, especially silk and satin, or metals).
A silky luster is the result of a mineral having a fine fibrous structure.
Often, determining the luster of a particular specimen is personal; to some it may appear as one type of luster, and to others as a different type.
Luster is only a useful form of mineral identification when the specimen in question displays a "special" luster, such as waxy, greasy, pearly, etc. Specimens with a vitreous luster cannot be distinguished from one another, nor can minerals with a metallicluster.
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