the.com/pigment

means A substance that gives color to something by absorbing and reflecting particular wavelengths of light, rather than dissolving into the material it colors.

from From Latin 'pigmentum,' meaning a coloring substance or paint, built from the verb 'pingere' — 'to paint.' That same root gave English 'paint,' 'picture,' and 'depict,' all descended from the basic act of applying color to a surface. The word traveled into English through Old French largely unchanged, still carrying its original job description: the stuff that does the coloring.