orpiment

[ awr-puh-muhnt ]

noun

1. a mineral, arsenic trisulfide, As 2 S 3 , found usually in soft, yellow, foliated masses, used as a pigment.

orpiment

/ ˈɔːpɪmənt /

noun

1. a yellow mineral consisting of arsenic trisulphide in monoclinic crystalline form occurring in association with realgar: it is an ore of arsenic. Formula: As 2 S 3

Word History and Origins

Origin of orpiment¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Old French < Latin auripigmentum pigment of gold; auri- ¹, pigment

Word History and Origins

Origin of orpiment¹

C14: via Old French from Latin auripigmentum gold pigment

Example Sentences

I stuck my head inside a cabinet to get a close look at the rocks of the arsenic sulfides realgar and orpiment, blazes of flame orange locked within the crystals.

From The New Yorker

He thought of himself as a reformer—manufacturing fresh reds, greens, and yellows to replace older, toxic pigments like cinnabar and orpiment.

From The New Yorker

Then José Arcadio Buendía threw three doubloons into a pan and fused them with copper filings, orpiment, brimstone, and lead.

From Literature

Green bice is prepared from the blue, by adding yellow orpiment, or by grinding down the green carbonate of copper.

From Project Gutenberg

Wool′ly-pas′tinum, a kind of red orpiment; Wool′man, a dealer in wool; Wool′-mill, a building for the spinning of wool and the weaving of woollen cloth; Wool′pack, the package in which wool was formerly done up for sale: a bundle weighing 240 lb.: cirro-cumulus cloud; Wool′-pack′er; Wool′-pick′er, a machine for cleaning wool; Wool′sack, the seat of the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords, being a large square sack of wool covered with scarlet; Wool′sey, a material made of cotton and wool.—n.pl.

From Project Gutenberg