carmine
nounadjectiveattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈkɑːmaɪn//
- United States//ˈkɑɹmaɪn//
A purplish-red pigment, made from dye obtained from the cochineal beetle; carminic acid or any of its derivatives.
noun
- 1
A purplish-red pigment, made from dye obtained from the cochineal beetle; carminic acid or any of its derivatives.
- 2
A purplish-red colour, resembling that pigment.
He wore a great coat in midsummer, being affected with the trembling delirium, and his face was the color of carmine.
I am alive, I guess, / The branches on my hand / Are full of morning-glory, / And at my fingers' end / The carmine tingles warm,
He pictured himself in an adobe house in Mexico, half-reclining on a rug-covered couch, his slender, artistic fingers closed on a cigarette while he listened to guitars strumming melancholy undertones to an age-old dirge of Castile and an olive-skinned, carmine-lipped girl caressed his hair.
[…] the dawn breaking behind the hill-tops in our rear, the first narrow streaks of gold, like swords slitting the darkness, and then the growing light and the seas of carmine cloud stretching away into inconceivable distances […]
Etymology
PIE word *kʷŕ̥mis Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷŕ̥mis Proto-Indo-Iranian *kŕ̥miš Persian کرمست* (*kermest)bor. Arabic قِرْمِز (qirmiz)bor. Medieval Latin *carminium? French carminder. English carmine From French carmin, from irregular Medieval Latin carminium, itself from Arabic قِرْمِز (qirmiz, “crimson, kermes”) from Persian *کرمست (*kermest), ultimately from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kŕ̥miš (“worm”), plus or with influence from Latin minium. Compare crimson and kermes.
adjective
- 1
Of the purplish red colour shade carmine.
Forms
- plural
- carmines
carmine · A purplish-red pigment, made from dye obtained from the cochineal beetle; carminic acid or any of its derivatives.
Carmine · A male given name from Italian.carnage · Death and destruction.Carnegie · A surname.