vermeil

English

Etymology

From French vermeil (“vermilion”), from Latin vermiculus (“little worm”), from vermis (“worm”), ultimately in reference to Kermes vermilio, a type of scale insect used to make a crimson dye.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈvəːmɪl/

Adjective

vermeil (comparative more vermeil, superlative most vermeil)

1. (poetic, now rare) Bright scarlet, vermilion.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.3:

     And in her cheekes the vermeill red did shew / Like roses in a bed of lillies shed [...].

2. (poetic, now rare) Specifically of faces, lips etc.: red, ruddy, healthy-looking.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.36:

     his carriage; demeanor, and venerable behaviour, in a face so young, vermeill, and heart enflaming [...].

Noun

vermeil (plural vermeils)

1. (poetic) Vermilion; bright red.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:

     The mortall steele stayed not till it was seene / To gore her side; yet was the wound not deepe, / But lightly rased her soft silken skin, / That drops of purple blood thereout did weepe, / Which did her lilly smock with staines of vermeil steep.

2. silver gilt or gilt bronze.
3. A liquid composition applied to a gilded surface to give luster to the gold.

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French

Etymology

Latin vermiculus.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vɛʁmɛj/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

vermeil m (feminine vermeille, masculine plural vermeils, feminine plural vermeilles)

1. bright red, vermilion
2. (of mouth, lips etc.) ruby, cherry (-red)
3. rosy

Noun

vermeil m (plural vermeils)

1. vermeil