Pure beryl is colorless, but it is frequently tinted by impurities; possible colors are green, blue, yellow, pink, and red (the rarest).

[7] The word beryl – Middle English: beril – is borrowed, via Old French: beryl and Latin: beryllus, from Ancient Greek βήρυλλος bḗryllos, which referred to a 'precious blue-green color-of-sea-water stone';[2] from Prakrit veruḷiya, veḷuriya 'beryl'[8][a] which is ultimately of Dravidian origin, maybe from the name of Belur or Velur, a town in Karnataka, southern India.

It is found most commonly in granitic pegmatites, but also occurs in mica schists, such as those of the Ural Mountains, and in limestone in Colombia.

In granitic pegmatites, beryl is found in association with quartz, potassium feldspar, albite, muscovite, biotite, and tourmaline.

Beryl is sometimes found in metasomatic contacts of igneous intrusions with gneiss, schist, or carbonate rocks.

[12] Common beryl, mined as beryllium ore, is found in small deposits in many countries, but the main producers are Russia, Brazil, and the United States.

[11] New England's pegmatites have produced some of the largest beryls found, including one massive crystal from the Bumpus Quarry in Albany, Maine with dimensions 5.5 by 1.2 m (18.0 by 3.9 ft) with a mass of around 18 tonnes (20 short tons); it is New Hampshire's state mineral.

[14] Beryl is a beryllium compound that is a known carcinogen with acute toxic effects leading to pneumonitis when inhaled.

[24] In the United States, aquamarines can be found at the summit of Mount Antero in the Sawatch Range in central Colorado, and in the New England and North Carolina pegmatites.

[26] Another location within the United States is the Sawtooth Range near Stanley, Idaho, although the minerals are within a wilderness area which prevents collecting.

[27] In Brazil, there are mines in the states of Minas Gerais,[25] Espírito Santo, and Bahia, and minorly in Rio Grande do Norte.

[28] The mines of Colombia, Skardu Pakistan, Madagascar, Russia,[25] Namibia,[29] Zambia,[30] Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya[31] also produce aquamarine.

Fine emeralds are also found in other countries, such as Zambia, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Russia.

[40][22][23] Intensely green beryls from Brazil, Zimbabwe and elsewhere in which the color is attributed to vanadium have also been sold and certified as emeralds.

Probably the largest cut golden beryl is the flawless 2,054-carat (410.8 g) stone on display in the Hall of Gems, Washington, D.C., United States.

[32] Red variety of beryl (the "bixbite") was first described in 1904 for an occurrence, its type locality, at Maynard's Claim (Pismire Knolls), Thomas Range, Juab County, Utah.

[32] Old synonym "bixbite" is deprecated from the CIBJO because of the possibility of confusion with the mineral bixbyite (both named after mineralogist Maynard Bixby).

[53] It is formed by crystallizing under low pressure and high temperature from a pneumatolytic phase along fractures or within near-surface miarolitic cavities of the rhyolite.