vermeil

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

vermeil

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• vermile

Etymology

From Middle English vermayle, from Old 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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜː.meɪl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜ˞.mɪl/

Adjective

vermeil (comparative more vermeil, superlative most vermeil)

1. (poetic, now rare) Bright scarlet, vermilion.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

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

   • 1818, John Keats, Endymion‎, Book I, lines 49-51:

     Many and many a verse I hope to write,
     Before the daisies, vermeil rimm’d and white,
     Hide in deep herbage;

2. (poetic, now rare) Specifically of faces, lips etc.: red, ruddy, healthy-looking.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 36, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:

     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, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     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.

Related terms

• vermillion

Anagrams

• vermile

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French vermeil, from Old French vermeil, syncopated form of Latin vermiculus (“little worm”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁ.mɛj/

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

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

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

Noun

vermeil m (plural vermeils)

1. vermeil (gold-plated silver with a reddish hue)

Further reading

• “vermeil”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French vermeil.

Adjective

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

1. vermillion

Descendants

• French: vermeil

References

• vermeil on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Old French

Alternative forms

• vermail, vermoil

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *vermiclus, syncopated form of Latin vermiculus (“little worm”).

Adjective

vermeil m (oblique and nominative feminine singular vermeile)

1. vermillion

Declension

Descendants