Crimson

Crimson, the name of a strong, bright red colour tinged to a greater or less degree with purple. It is the colour of the dye produced from the dried bodies of the cochineal insect (Coccus cacti). The word, in its earlier forms cremesin, crymysyn, also cramoysin, cf. “cramoisy,” the name of a red cloth, is adapted from the Med. Lat. cremesinus for kermesinus or carmesinus, the dye produced from the insect Kermes (Coccus ilicis), Arab. quirmiz, which Skeat (Etym. Dict., 1898) connects with the Sanskrit krimi, cognate with Lat. vermis and Eng. “worm.” From the Lat. carminus, a shortened form of carmesinus, comes “carmine” (q.v.).

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