cinnabar

English

Cinnabar mineral (1)

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^(key): /ˈsɪn.əˌbɑɹ/
  • (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪn.əˌbɑː(ɹ)/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪn.əˌbɑɹ/

Noun

cinnabar (countable and uncountable, plural cinnabars)

1. A deep red mineral, mercuric sulfide, HgS; the principal ore of mercury; such ore used as the pigment vermilion.

   Synonym: (obsolete) æthiops mineral

2. A bright red colour tinted with orange.

   cinnabar:  

3. (countable) A species of moth, Tyria jacobaeae, having red patches on its predominantly black wings.

   Synonym: cinnabar moth

   • 2015, Norman Maclean, A Less Green and Pleasant Land, page 223:

     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.

4. (in “Cinnabar Panacea”) The Elixir of Life.

Derived terms

• cinnabar moth
• green cinnabar
• hepatic cinnabar
• hypercinnabar
• inflammable cinnabar
• metacinnabar

Translations

mineral

• Arabic: زِنْجَفْر m (zinjafr)
• Armenian: կինաբար (hy) (kinabar)

  Old Armenian: կինաբարիս (kinabaris), կինաբառիս (kinabaṙis), տինաբառիս (tinabaṙis)

• Assamese: হেঙুল (heṅul)
• Bulgarian: киновар m (kinovar)
• Catalan: cinabri (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 朱砂 (zh) (zhūshā), 丹砂 (zh) (dānshā)

• Coptic: ⲕⲉⲛⲛⲁⲃⲉⲣⲉⲟⲥ (kennabereos)
• Dutch: vermiljoen (nl)
• Esperanto: cinabro (eo)
• Estonian: kinaver
• Finnish: sinooperi
• French: cinabre (fr) m
• Georgian: ცინაბარი (cinabari)
• German: Zinnober (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: τιγγάβαρι n (tingábari)

• Gujarati: હિંગળોક (hiṅgaḷok)
• Hebrew: צינובר m (tsínober)
• Hindi: सिंगरिफ़ (siṅgrif)
• Irish: cionnabar m
• Italian: cinabro (it) m
• Japanese: 辰砂 (ja) (しんしゃ, shinsha), 辰沙 (しんしゃ, shinsha), 朱砂 (すさ, susa), 丹砂 (たんさ, tansa), 丹朱 (たんしゅ, tanshu), 丹 (ja) (たん, tan), 朱 (ja) (しゅ, shu)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: anthrax m
• Macedonian: киновар m (kinovar)
• Malay: batu kawi
• Norwegian: sinober (no) m
• Persian: شنگرف (fa) (šangarf)
• Polish: cynober (pl) m
• Portuguese: cinabre m
• Romanian: cinabru (ro) n, chinovar (ro) n, vermillon (ro) n
• Russian: ки́новарь (ru) f (kínovarʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: cinabarit (sh)
• Spanish: cinabrio (es) m
• Swedish: cinnober (sv) c
• Thai: ชาด (th) (châat)
• Turkish: zincifre (tr), sülüğen (tr)
• Ukrainian: кі́нова́р (uk) m (kínovár), цино́бра f (cynóbra)
• Vietnamese: chu sa
• Yup'ik: al'tuutaq

color

• Assamese: হেঙুলবুলীয়া (heṅulobulia)
• Bulgarian: цинобър m (cinobǎr)
• Finnish: sinooperinpunainen
• German: Zinnober (de) n
• Irish: cionnabar m
• Japanese: 丹 (ja) (たん, tan; に, ni), 丹色 (にいろ, niiro), 朱 (ja) (そお, sō; しゅ, shu), 朱色 (ja) (しゅいろ, shuiro; しゅしょく, shushoku)
• Macedonian: цинобер m (cinober)
• Norwegian: sinober (no) m
• Persian: شنگرفی (šangarfi)
• Polish: cynober (pl) m
• Romanian: cinabru (ro)

moth

• Irish: leamhan flanndearg m

Adjective

cinnabar (comparative more cinnabar, superlative most cinnabar)

1. Of a bright red colour tinted with orange.

Translations

of a bright red colour

• Finnish: sinooperinpunainen
• Mandarin: 丹 (zh) (dān)
• Polish: cynobrowy (pl) m

See also

• (reds) red; blood red, brick red, burgundy, cardinal, carmine, carnation, cerise, cherry, cherry red, Chinese red, cinnabar, claret, crimson, damask, fire brick, fire engine red, flame, flamingo, fuchsia, garnet, geranium, gules, hot pink, incarnadine, Indian red, magenta, maroon, misty rose, nacarat, oxblood, pillar-box red, pink, Pompeian red, poppy, raspberry, red violet, rose, rouge, ruby, ruddy, salmon, sanguine, scarlet, shocking pink, stammel, strawberry, Turkey red, Venetian red, vermilion, vinaceous, vinous, violet red, wine ^{(Category: en:Reds)}
• mercury

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Cinnabar”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “cinnabar”, in Mindat.org‎^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.
• cinnabar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia