minium

minium

English

Etymology

    Borrowed from Latin minium.

    Pronunciation

    • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmɪnɪəm/

    Noun

    minium (usually uncountable, plural miniums)

    1. (now historical) Cinnabar, especially when used as a pigment; vermilion. [from 14th c.]
    2. Red lead. [from 17th c.]
      • 1861, Robert H. Lamborn, A rudimentary treatise on the Metallurgy of Silver and Lead, page 43:
        The compounds formed by the combination of the peroxide of lead with the protoxide have received the general name of miniums, and are known in commerce as red lead.
      • 2007, Giambattista Basile, translated by Nancy L. Canepa, Tale of Tales, Penguin, page 29:
        [H]e was so overcome by suffering that his face, which had once been of oriental minium, now became like orpiment, and the hams of his lips turned into rancid lard.

    Translations

    Czech

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈmiːnɪjum]

    Noun

    minium n

    1. red lead, minium (a bright red, poisonous oxide of lead, Pb3O4, used as a pigment and in glass and ceramics)
      Synonym: suřík

    Declension

    French

    Etymology

      Borrowed from Latin minium.

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /mi.njɔm/
      • Audio (France (Lyon)):(file)

      Noun

      minium m (uncountable)

      1. red lead

      Further reading

      Latin

      Alternative forms

      Etymology

      Iberian. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

      Pronunciation

      Noun

      minium n (genitive miniī or minī); second declension

      1. native cinnabar
      2. red lead, minium

      Declension

      Second-declension noun (neuter).

      singular plural
      nominative minium minia
      genitive miniī
      minī1
      miniōrum
      dative miniō miniīs
      accusative minium minia
      ablative miniō miniīs
      vocative minium minia

      1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

      Derived terms

      Descendants

      • English: minium, miniature
      • Ancient Greek: μίνιον (mínion)
      • Italian: minio
      • Middle Dutch: minie
      • Polish: minia
      • Portuguese: Minho, mínio
      • Spanish: Miño

      References

      • minium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
      • minium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
      • "minium", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
      • minium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.