the.com/vermilion
the red so gorgeous emperors hoarded it and painters slowly poisoned themselves chasing it
means A brilliant scarlet-to-orange red pigment and the vivid color it produces.
from From Old French 'vermillon,' which traces back to Latin 'vermiculus,' meaning 'little worm.' The link sounds odd until you learn that a prized ancient red dye was made from the crushed bodies of tiny scale insects (kermes), once mistaken for worms or grains. The name later attached itself to the mineral pigment made from cinnabar (mercury sulfide) — hence the painters' slow poisoning.
- made of
- ground mercury sulfide, also called cinnabar
- toxic
- the mineral source is literally poisonous mercury ore
- imperial ink
- reserved for Chinese emperors' signatures alone
- darkens
- sunlight slowly turns the brilliant red to black
- name root
- from vermiculus, Latin for little worm
for instance
vermilion sea — gulf of california between baja california and mexico, known for endemic fish species