cinnabar

English

Cinnabar mineral (1)

Etymology

From Middle English cynabare [mid-15^th c.], from Old French cinabre, from Latin cinnabaris, from Ancient Greek κιννάβαρι (kinnábari), from perhaps Arabic زِنْجَفْر (zinjafr), related to Persian شنگرف‎ (šangarf) from Old Persian 𐎿𐎡𐎣𐎲𐎽𐎢𐏁 (s-i-k-b-ru-u-š /⁠siⁿkabruš⁠/, “carnelian”) , of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭ ʹ-nə-bär, IPA^(key): /ˈsɪnəbɑɹ/
• IPA^(key): [ˈsɪ.nə.baː(ɹ)]
• IPA^(key): [ˈsɪ.nə.bɑː(ɹ)]
• IPA^(key): [ˈsɪ.nə.bɑɹ]

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.
2. A bright red colour tinted with orange.

   cinnabar:  

3. (countable) A species of moth, , having red patches on its predominantly black wings.
   • 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. "Cinnabar Panacea"; the Elixir of Life.

Synonyms

• (moth): cinnabar moth

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)

• Dutch: vermiljoen (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: kinaver
• Finnish: sinooperi
• French: cinabre (fr) m
• German: Zinnober (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: τιγγάβαρι n (tingábari)

• Gujarati: હિંગળોક (hiṅgaḷok)
• Hebrew: צינובר m (tsínober)
• Hindi: सिंगरिफ़ (siṅgrif)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: cionnabar m
• Italian: cinabro (it) m
• Japanese: 辰砂 (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
• 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
• Thai: ชาด (th) (châat)
• Turkish: zincifre (tr), sülüğen (tr)
• Vietnamese: chu sa
• Yup'ik: al'tuutaq

color

• Assamese: হেঙুলবুলীয়া (heṅulobulia)
• Bulgarian: цинобър m (cinobǎr)
• Finnish: sinooperinpunainen
• German: Zinnober (de) n
• Irish: cionnabar m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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)
• Norwegian: sinober (no) m
• Persian: شنگرفی (šangarfī)
• Polish: cynober (pl) m
• Romanian: cinabru (ro)

moth

• Irish: leamhan flanndearg m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Adjective

cinnabar (comparative more cinnabar, superlative most cinnabar)

1. Of a bright red colour tinted with orange.

Derived terms

• cinnabar moth
• hypercinnabar
• metacinnabar

Translations

of a bright red colour

• Finnish: sinooperinpunainen
• Mandarin: 丹 (dān)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: cynobrowy (pl) m

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:cinnabar.

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.