orpiment

American  

[awr-puh-muhnt] / ˈɔr pə mənt /

noun

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

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orpiment British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of orpiment

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

orpiment

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 ● Aug. 27, 2018

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 ● Aug. 27, 2018

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

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

We have occasionally found Mars yellow mixed with orpiment, or chromate of lead, for the purpose of brightening the colour.

From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Thomas Salter

They possess the same qualities as pigments, and as such resemble yellow orpiment, to which the old painters gave the orange hue by heat, naming it alchemy and burnt orpiment.

From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Thomas Salter

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