scarlet means of a bright red colour. It carries an Arena rating of 1440, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, scarlet ranks #456 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #1,695 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #2,367 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #4,841 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
scarlet is pronounced /ˈskɑɹlɪt/.
Why “scarlet” is a great word
A brilliant red color, often with a slight orange tinge; also, a type of expensive cloth historically dyed this color. From Middle English scarlet, scarlat, borrowed from Old French escarlate ("a type of cloth"), from Medieval Latin scarlātum ("scarlet cloth"), likely via Arabic سِقِلَّات (siqillāt, denoting luxury silks dyed scarlet) from an uncertain earlier origin, with a first attestation in English for the cloth sense in the late 12th century. Unlike "crimson," which holds a deeper, more somber gravity like drying blood, or "vermillion," a mineral pigment's precise orange-red, scarlet is the hue of heat and consequence. It is the cardinal's defiant robe against a grey cathedral wall, the flush of fever on a pale cheek, and the first sin-stained thread in a Puritan's embroidery—a color that has always burned just a little too brightly to be forgiven.
Etymology
From Middle English scarlet, scarlat, borrowed from Old French escarlate (“a type of cloth”), from Medieval Latin scarlātum (“scarlet cloth”), of uncertain origin. This was long thought to derive from Classical Persian سقرلات (saqirlāt, “a warm woollen cloth”), but the Persian word (first attested in the 1290s) is now thought to be from Arabic سِقِلَّات (siqillāt), denoting very expensive, luxury silks dyed scarlet-red using the exceptionally expensive dye, first attested around the ninth century. The most obvious route for the Arabic word siqillāt to have entered the Romance languages would be via the Arabic-speaking Iberian region of al-Andalus, particularly Almería, where kermes was produced extensively; compare especially the dialectal form سِقِرْلَاط (siqirlāṭ). The word then came to
adj
- Of a bright red colour.
- Sinful or whorish.e.g.“a scarlet woman”
- Blushing; embarrassed or mortified.e.g.“He signed off our correspondence, “Well thank God for facemasks, cos I’m scarlet”.” — 26 October 2021, Aisling Marron, I brought the baby to her first vaccinations. Her look said: why have you betrayed me?, The Irish Times
name
- A female given name from English, a modern variant of Scarlett, or from the common noun scarlet.
noun
- A brilliant red colour sometimes tinged with orange.
- Cloth of a scarlet color.e.g.“All her household are clothed with scarlet.” — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 31:21:
verb
- To dye or tinge (something) with scarlet.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.