vermillion
noun·/vɚˈmɪl.jən/
A vivid red pigment and the color it yields. Brilliant, warm, and historically charged, as if red had been refined into ceremony. Vermillion is pigment-bright: a painter's red.
A single vermillion stroke warmed the whole canvas, like a pulse made visible.
adjective
Of that bright red hue.
She sealed the envelope with a vermillion wax that looked almost alive.
Etymology
From Old French vermeillon, from Latin vermis “worm,” via the medieval association of red dyes with insect sources. The word’s redness comes with a history of labor and alchemy.
Related Words
cinnabarmercury sulfide pigment historically linked to vermilion
incarnadineflesh-tinged red; more bodily
crimsondeep red; often darker
alizarinanother storied red dye