Sepia
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A dark brown pigment made from the secretions of the cuttlefish. uncountable
"Sepia had some use in ancient times as a writing ink, and in modern times has has occasionally been used as a pigment, but it never attained any popularity, as it is extremely fugitive."
- 2 a shade of brown with a tinge of red wordnet
- 3 A dark, slightly reddish, brown colour. uncountable
- 4 rich brown pigment prepared from the ink of cuttlefishes wordnet
- 5 A sepia-coloured drawing or photograph. broadly, countable
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- 6 A cuttlefish. archaic, countable
- 1 Of a dark reddish-brown colour.
"Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind."
Example
More examples"Thus in vase pictures, when Poseidon upheaves the island of Cos to overwhelm the Giant Polybotes, the island is represented as an immense mass of rock; the parts which have been under water are indicated by a dolphin, a shrimp, and a sepia, the parts above the water by a goat and a serpent."
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin sēpia (“cuttlefish”), from Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía). Cognate with Italian seppia, Portuguese siba, and Spanish sepia.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.