pigment

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a substance that gives color to animal or plant tissue or to another material

   Melanin is the pigment that gives skin and hair much of their color.

2. 2
   noun

   a usually insoluble colored powder mixed into paint, ink, or another medium

   The artist ground the mineral into a blue pigment for the mural.

3. 3
   verb

   to give color to something by adding or producing pigment

   Iron oxides pigment the clay in shades of red and brown.

From Middle English pigment, from Latin pigmentum ('coloring matter, paint'), from pingere ('to paint or color') + -mentum. The Latin word could also denote a cosmetic or a medicinal preparation; English narrowed it chiefly to substances that impart color.

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