scarlet

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A brilliant red colour sometimes tinged with orange.
2. (countable, uncountable) Cloth of a scarlet color.

Adj

1. Of a bright red colour.
2. Sinful or whorish.
3. (Ireland) Blushing; embarrassed or mortified.

Verb

To dye or tinge (something) with scarlet.

Synonyms

crimson

vermilion

red

pink

ruddy

ruby

dark red

rosy

reddish

rose-coloured

carmine

rose-coloured

bright red

rose-colored

orange red

rose-colored

cherry-red

cherry

cerise

carnation

ruby-red

blood-red

incarnadine

deep red

rubicose

pill

💊

deep crimson

brilliant red

rubrical

leftwing

damask

scarlet red

cardinal

erythroid

mint condition

Translations

écarlate

scarlatto

scharlaken

escarlata

escarlata

scharlachrot

escarlate

Scharlachrot

vuurrood

scharlakenrood

άλικος

vermelho

rosso

Scharlach

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈskɑɹlɪt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: scarlet

In summary

From Middle English scarlet, scarlat, borrowed from Old French escarlate (“a type of cloth”), from Medieval Latin scarlatum (“scarlet cloth”), of uncertain origin. This was long thought to derive from Classical Persian سقرلات (saqirlāt, “a warm woollen cloth”), but the Persian word (first attested in the 1290s) is now thought to be from Arabic سِقِلَّات (siqillāt), denoting very expensive, luxury silks dyed scarlet-red using the exceptionally expensive dye, first attested around the ninth century. The most obvious route for the Arabic word siqillāt to have entered the Romance languages would be via the Arabic-speaking Iberian region of al-Andalus, particularly Almería, where kermes was produced extensively; compare especially the dialectal form سِقِرْلَاط (siqirlāṭ). The word then came to be used of woollen cloth dyed with the same dye. The Arabic word may itself be derived from Byzantine Greek σιγιλλᾶτον (sigillâton), from Latin sigillātum (“a type of fabric”, literally “sealed; sealing”) .