vermilion means having a brilliant red colour. It carries an Arena rating of 1781, earned across 32 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, vermilion ranks #397 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #456 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #504 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,635 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say.
vermilion is pronounced /vəˈmɪl.jən/.
Why “vermilion” is a great word
A vivid red pigment originally made from powdered cinnabar, or the brilliant scarlet color thereof. From Middle English *vermilioun*, from Anglo-French and Old French *vermeillon*, from *vermeil* ("bright red"), from Late Latin *vermiculus* ("little worm, insect"), referring to the kermes insect used to make a red dye, from Latin *vermis* ("worm"), first attested in English in the mid-14th century. Unlike "scarlet," which suggests the warmer, ceremonial hue of dyed cloth, or "crimson," which evokes a deeper, more bluish and regal red, vermilion is the color of the mineral itself—a fiery, particulate orange-red pulled from the earth. It is the lacquer of a temple gate in the punishing sun, the sealed wax on a fateful document, the sudden pulse of a cardinal’s wing against snow. It is the brightest red that is still, fundamentally, a kind of rust.
Etymology
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.
adj
- Having a brilliant red colour.
- Having the color of the vermilion dye.
noun
- A vivid red synthetic pigment made of mercury sulfide, cinnabar.
- A bright orange-red colour.
- A type of red dye worn in the parting of the hair by married Hindu women.
- The red skin of the lips or its border with the skin of the face.
- The kermes or cochineal insect.
- The cochineal dye made from this insect.
verb
- To color or paint vermilion.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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