Indian red

Meanings

Noun

• Any of a variety of red or purple pigments containing ferric oxide, found in natural earth or made by chemical methods.
• The colour of Indian red pigment: a variety of dark, purplish reds.

Adjective

• Having the colour of Indian red pigment.

Origin

• 1672 pigment, c. 1810–27 colour and adjective. Indian + red, the pigment originally being an earth obtained from the East Indies.