English Explanatory Dictionary

vermilion

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A vivid red synthetic pigment made of mercury sulfide, cinnabar.
  2. A bright orange-red colour.
  3. A type of red dye worn in the parting of the hair by married Hindu women.
  4. The red skin of the lips or its border with the skin of the face.
  5. The kermes or cochineal insect.
  6. The cochineal dye made from this insect.
adj
  1. Having a brilliant red colour.
  2. Having the color of the vermilion dye.
verb
  1. To color or paint vermilion.

Pronunciation

/vəˈmɪl.jən/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-vermilion.wav /vɚˈmɪl.jən/

Word forms

vermilion vermilions vermillion more vermilion most vermilion vermilioning vermilioned

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis Proto-Italic *wormis Latin vermis Proto-Italic *-kelos Latin -culus Latin vermiculus Vulgar Latin *vermiclus Old French vermeil Old French vermeillonbor. Middle English vermelioun English vermilion From Middle English vermelioun, vermyloun, vermylon, vermilun, from Old French vermeillon (“vermilion”), from vermeil, from Latin vermiculus (“little worm”), from vermis (“worm”), ultimately in reference to Kermes vermilio, a type of scale insect used to make a crimson dye. Displaced native Old English bōcrēad.

Synonyms

sindoor

Related words

vermeil red scarlet

Derived words

vermilion border Vermilion County vermilion flycatcher Vermilion Parish Vermilion River

Translations

Bulgarian: киновар Bulgarian: цинобър Dutch: vermiljoen Finnish: sinooperinpunainen hiusväri Greek: κιννάβαρι Gujarati: સિંદૂર Hindi: सिंदूर Polish: cynober Portuguese: vermelhão Serbo-Croatian: цино́бер Serbo-Croatian: cinóber
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on V Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary