Carmine
adj, name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A purplish-red pigment, made from dye obtained from the cochineal beetle; carminic acid or any of its derivatives. countable, uncountable
"1967, Time, "The Case of the Dubious Dye," 6 January, 1967, https://web.archive.org/web/20130721101257/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843172,00.html Cases of cubana salmonellosis in three other states were traced to carmine red, and supplies were called in. […] But authorities have been checking other places for carmine red, knowing that it is a favorite coloring in candy, chewing gum, ice cream, cough syrups and drugs. Manufacturers like to use it because of a legal quirk: being a natural rather than a synthetic product, it does not have to be mentioned on labels."
- 2 a variable color averaging a vivid red wordnet
- 3 A purplish-red colour, resembling that pigment. countable, uncountable
"He wore a great coat in midsummer, being affected with the trembling delirium, and his face was the color of carmine."
- 1 color carmine wordnet
- 1 Of the purplish red colour shade carmine.
- 1 of a color at the end of the color spectrum (next to orange); resembling the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies wordnet
- 1 A male given name from Italian.
- 2 A surname from Italian.
Example
More examples"Carmine is a deep red food coloring obtained from an insect called the cochineal."
Etymology
PIE word *kʷŕ̥mis 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.
The given name is borrowed from Italian Carmine.
Related phrases
More for "carmine"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.