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purple

[ pur-puhl ]
/ ˈpɜr pəl /
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noun
adjective, pur·pler, pur·plest.
verb (used with or without object), pur·pled, pur·pling.
to make or become purple.
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Idioms about purple

    born in / to the purple, of royal or exalted birth: Those born to the purple are destined to live in the public eye.

Origin of purple

First recorded before 1000; Middle English purpel (noun and adjective), Old English purple (adjective), variant of purpure, from Latin purpura “kind of shellfish yielding purple dye, the dye, cloth so dyed,” from Greek porphýra; cf. purpure, porphyry

OTHER WORDS FROM purple

pur·ple·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use purple in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for purple

purple
/ (ˈpɜːpəl) /

noun
adjective

Derived forms of purple

purpleness, nounpurplish, adjectivepurply, adjective

Word Origin for purple

Old English, from Latin purpura purple dye, from Greek porphura the purple fish (Murex)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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