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caput mortuum. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
caput mortuum, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
caput mortuum in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin caput mortuum (literally “dead head”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkæpət ˈmɔː(ɹ)tjʊəm/
Noun
caput mortuum (uncountable)
- (alchemy) Worthless residue of sublimation or distillation.
- Cardinal purple, a variety of haematite iron oxide pigment.
2018, Kate Atkinson, Transcription, page 227:Were they working their way through the colours and now had reached the more abstruse layers of the spectrum? What would be next — caput mortuum, heliotrope? The colours of the day.
See also
Latin
Etymology
Literally, “dead head”. Figurative use from alchemical literature.
Noun
caput mortuum n (genitive capitis mortuum); third declension
- a dead man's head, a skull
- worthless residue, useless substance
- 1591 "Caput mortuum, ut est apud Paracelsum, sign. materias, quae sunt in fundo vasis chimici" (Antonio Ricciardo, Commentaria symbolica, p. 138)
- Cardinal purple, a variety of haematite iron oxide pigment
Declension
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem) with an indeclinable portion.
Swedish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin caput mortuum.
Noun
caput mortuum c
- (alchemy) caput mortuum; residue
- Synonyms: 🝎, nigredo
1771 June 15, “Lärda saker och rön. [Learned things and findings]”, in Stockholms vecko-blad, page 1:Caput mortuum ger och efter afbränningen något fast lut-salt.- Caput mortuum gives and after burning some solid lye-salt.
- a brown-purple pigment, mainly of iron oxide (color/colour)
- Synonym: (dated) engelskt rött
- mummy brown; a reddish-brown pigment, made from ground mummy and resin (color/colour)
- Synonyms: egyptiskt brun, mumia, mumiebrunt