#1: Vermilion

Color:

Vivid reddish orange

About the Word:

Spanish painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (who painted in the late 1700s and early 1800s) was so fond of this vibrant color that vermilion also became known as goya.

The word vermilion traces to the Late Latin vermiculus, meaning "kermes." Kermes are the dried bodies of insects (of the genus Kermes) used to produce this ancient red dye.

Full Definition:

: a strong red that is deeper than geranium, yellower and deeper than geranium red, and bluer and deeper than average cherry red

Photograph by AlkaliSoaps. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 (49.7.41). Creative Commons License