Abstract Zircons from two Myanmar jadeitite samples were separated for texture, mineral inclusion, U–Pb dating and trace element composition analyses. Three types of zircons, with respect to U–Pb isotope system, were recognized. Type I zircons are inherited ones, yielding an igneous protolith age of 160 ± 1 Ma; Type II zircons are metasomatic/hydrothermal ones, giving a (minimum) jadeitite formation age of 77 ± 3 Ma; and Type III zircons are incompletely recrystallized ones, with non-coherent and geologically meaningless ages from 153 to 105 Ma. These Myanmar jadeitites would therefore have formed through whole-sale metasomatic replacement processes. Compared with Type I zircons, Type II zircons show typical metasomatic/hydrothermal geochemical signatures, with low Th/U ratio ( The Myanmar jadeitites, based on the present study, might have formed during the Late Cretaceous subduction before the beginning of India–Asia continental collision at Paleocene. Previously proposed Late Jurassic ages for Myanmar jadeitites are suggested as results rooted on data retrieved from incompletely recrystallized inherited zircons.