cinnabar

Etymology

First attested in the mid-15th century. From Middle English cynabare, from Old French cinabre, from Latin cinnabaris, from Ancient Greek κιννάβαρι (kinnábari), of unknown origin.

noun

1. A deep red mineral, mercuric sulfide, HgS; the principal ore of mercury; such ore used as the pigment vermilion.
2. A bright red colour tinted with orange.
   cinnabar:
3. (countable) A species of moth, Tyria jacobaeae, having red patches on its predominantly black wings.
   There are a few day-flying exceptions such as hummingbird hawk-moths, silver Ys, cinnabars, scarlet tigers and burnets but, in general, knowledge of moths lags behind that of butterflies. 2015, Norman Maclean, A Less Green and Pleasant Land, page 223
4. (in “Cinnabar Panacea”) The Elixir of Life.

adj

1. Of a bright red colour tinted with orange.