alizarin

Etymology

Borrowed from French alizarine, corresponding to alizari + -in.

noun

1. (organic chemistry) A red substance, 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone, extracted from madder root and used as a dye.
   glass headed pins, oil-golds and copper greens, anthracite blues, alizarins, 1946, Elizabeth Bishop, “Roosters”, in North and South
   In 1883, the German output of alizarin, the brilliant red chemical that imitated natural carmine, reached twelve thousand tons, dwarfing the amount being produced by Perkin's factory in London. 2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of all Maladies, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 82