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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

vermilion.

A vivid red synthetic pigment made of mercury sulfide, cinnabar.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/vəˈmɪl.jən/Received-Pronunciation/vɚˈmɪl.jən/General-American

  1. A vivid red synthetic pigment made of mercury sulfide, cinnabar.

    countable · uncountable

  2. A bright orange-red colour.

    countable · uncountable

  3. A type of red dye worn in the parting of the hair by married Hindu women.

    countable · uncountable

  4. The red skin of the lips or its border with the skin of the face.

    countable · uncountable

  5. The kermes or cochineal insect.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable

  6. The cochineal dye made from this insect.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis Proto-Italic *wormis Latin vermis Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos 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.

adj/vəˈmɪl.jən/Received-Pronunciation/vɚˈmɪl.jən/General-American

  1. Having a brilliant red colour.

  2. Having the color of the vermilion dye.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis Proto-Italic *wormis Latin vermis Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos 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.

verb/vəˈmɪl.jən/Received-Pronunciation/vɚˈmɪl.jən/General-American

  1. To color or paint vermilion.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis Proto-Italic *wormis Latin vermis Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos 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.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.