orpiment

English

Orpiment

Alternative forms

• auripigment

Etymology

From Middle English orpyment, from Old French orpiment, from Latin auripigmentum (“orpiment”), from aurum (“gold”) pigmentum (“pigment”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːpɪmənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɹpəmənt/

Noun

orpiment (countable and uncountable, plural orpiments)

1. arsenic trisulphide, occurring naturally in crystals or massive deposits, formerly used as a dye or pigment
   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 24, in Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part One: Latitudes and Departures, page 242:

     Jeremiah found himself indoors, perfecting his Draftsmanship, bending all day over the work-table, grinding and mixing his own Inks,— siftings and splashes ev'rywhere of King's Yellow, Azure, red Orpiment, Indian lake, Verdigris, Indigo, and Umber.

Derived terms

• red orpiment
• yellow orpiment

Translations

arsenic trisulphide

• Arabic: رَهَج أَصْفَر m (rahaj ʔaṣfar)
• Armenian: զառիկ (hy) (zaṙik)
• Bulgarian: арсенов сулфид (arsenov sulfid)
• Catalan: orpiment (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雌黃／雌黄 (zh) (cíhuáng)

• Finnish: auripigmentti
• German: Auripigment (de) n, Opperment n, gelbes Schwefelarsenik n, gelbe Arsenblende f, Rauschgelb n
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀρσενικόν n (arsenikón)

• Italian: orpimento m
• Latin: auripigmentum n
• Malay: artal, hartal (ms), retal
• Middle English: orpyment, auripigment
• Persian: زرنیخ (fa) (zarnix), اورپیمان (orpimân)
• Polish: aurypigment (pl) m
• Portuguese: auripigmento m, ouro-pimenta m, ouro-pigmento m
• Punjabi: ਹੜਤਾਲ਼ f (haṛtāḷ)
• Russian: аурипигме́нт (ru) m (auripigmént)
• Spanish: oropimente m

See also

• realgar
• cinnabar

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Orpiment”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “orpiment”, in Mindat.org‎^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.

Anagrams

• temporin, time porn

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

orpiment m (plural orpiments)

1. orpiment

Further reading

• “orpiment”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Noun

orpiment

1. Alternative form of orpyment

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French orpiment.

Noun

orpiment n (uncountable)

1. orpiment

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	orpiment	orpimentul
genitive-dative	orpiment	orpimentului
vocative	orpimentule