Jadeite is formed only in the subduction zones of continental margins, where rock undergoes metamorphism at high pressure but relatively low temperature.

Jadeite is the principal mineral making up the most valuable form of jade, a precious stone particularly prized in China.

Jade tools and implements have been found at Stone Age sites, showing that the mineral has been prized by humans since before the beginning of written history.

The name jadeite is derived (via French: jade and Latin: ilia[6]) from the Spanish phrase "piedra de ijada" which means "stone of the side".

The Latin version of the name, lapis nephriticus, is the origin of the term nephrite, which is a different mineral that also shares the common name jade.

[8] Crystals are four-sided or eight-sided in cross section and show perfect cleavage on [110] at angles of 87 and 93 degrees.

The chains are bonded together by aluminium and sodium ions to form the full three-dimensional structure of a jadeite crystal.

[8] Jadeite occurs with albite in metamorphic rock of the low-temperature, high-pressure blueschist facies at destructive plate margins.

In all well-documented occurrences, jadeitite appears to have formed from subduction zone fluids in association with serpentinite.

Raw specimens having Burmese tax stamps or polished slots for evaluating quality are prized by some collectors.

[20] Jadeite jade is the most valuable form,[8] with the highest-quality material commanding prices well in excess of $200 per carat as of 1994[update].

[24] Over 180 axe heads made from jadeitite quarried in northern Italy in the Neolithic era have been found across the British Isles.

[25][26] Because of the difficulty of working this material, all the axe heads of this type found are thought to have been non-utilitarian and to have represented some form of currency or be the products of gift exchange.

These beads and axes were traded throughout Japan and the Korean Peninsula and were produced by the world's oldest known jadeite-using culture, centered on the Itoigawa region.