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''cinnabar'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125204041-00-⌔

cinnabar - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Noun

cinnabar (countable and uncountable, plural cinnabars)

  • A deep red mineral, mercuric sulfide, HgS; the principal ore of mercury; such ore used as the pigment vermilion.
    • ✤ Synonym: (obsolete) æthiops mineral
  • A bright red colour tinted with orange.
    • ✤ cinnabar:
  • (countable) A species of erebid moth, Tyria jacobaeae, having red patches on its predominantly black wings.
    • ✤ Synonym: cinnabar moth
    • ✤ There are a few day-flying exceptions such as hummingbird hawk-moths, silver Ys, cinnabars, scarlet tigers and burnets but, in general, knowledge of moths lags behind that of butterflies.1
  • Synonym of dragon’s blood (“type of resin”).

Adjective

cinnabar (comparative more cinnabar, superlative most cinnabar)

  • Of a bright red colour tinted with orange.

Etymology

First attested in the mid-15th century. From Middle English cynabare, from Old French cinabre, from Latin cinnabaris, from Ancient Greek κιννάβαρι (kinnábari), of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: sĭnʹ-ə’bär; IPA: /ˈsɪn.əˌbɑɹ/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
    • (Received Pronunciation, Australian) IPA: /ˈsɪn.əˌbɑː(ɹ)/
    • (General American) IPA: /ˈsɪn.əˌbɑɹ/
    • Audio (US): 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 2015, Norman Maclean, A Less Green and Pleasant Land, page 223: ↩

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