Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Arsenic trisulfide, As2S3, a yellow mineral used as a pigment.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Arsenic trisulphid, As2S3.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Chem.) Arsenic sesquisulphide, produced artificially as an amorphous lemon-yellow powder, and occurring naturally as a yellow crystalline mineral; -- formerly called
auripigment . It is used in king's yellow, in white Indian fire, and in certain technical processes, as indigo printing. - noun realgar; the red sulphide of arsenic.
- noun king's yellow.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
arsenic trisulphide , occurring naturally in crystals or massive deposits, formerly used as adye orpigment
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a yellow mineral occurring in conjunction with realgar; an ore of arsenic
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word orpiment.
Examples
-
Even so, the words do not agitate the meth-addled hamsters that operate my mental machinery to the extent that 'orpiment' does.
Sadly, No! 2008
-
Several other, less-common minerals contain arsenic, including orpiment, realgar, and enargite, which are arsenic sulfides.
Arsenic 2009
-
The name arsenic comes from the Greek word arsenikon, which means orpiment.
Arsenic 2009
-
It is believed that he heated soap and orpiment together and isolated elemental arsenic.
Arsenic 2009
-
Zirník or orpiment, 3 parts: it is applied in the Hammam to a perspiring skin, and it must be washed off immediately the hair is loosened or it burns and discolours.
-
Purity, however, was only a goal in the case of pigments made of potentially dangerous materials: If sulfur could not be removed from orpiment, or copper from verdigris, purification might at least render them less harmful.
-
This was possible by altering the coloring material through the addition of orpiment, which slowed reaction time.
-
"Pencil blue" was made by heating finely ground indigo with orpiment and potash.
-
King's yellow is a pure orpiment, or arsenic coloured with sulphur ...
-
As for the mineral colors, sulfur is an essential ingredient of such colors as orpiment and cinnabar, and it can never be removed.
-
Some pigments must be handled with care, including the yellow-hued orpiment and the red-orange realgar, which are derived from arsenic sulfide minerals.
Text of J.K. Rowling’s speech Colleen Walsh Harvard Staff Writer DateSeptember 17, 2015January 5, 2018 2018
-
Orpiment is a naturally occurring arsenic sulfide mineral, often found in hydrothermal and magmatic ore deposits.
This deep-sea worm creates a toxic yellow pigment found in Rembrandt and Cézanne paintings Mohana Basu 2025
-
A bright-yellow worm that lives in deep-sea hydrothermal vents is the first known animal to create orpiment, a brilliant but toxic mineral used by artists from antiquity until the nineteenth century.
This deep-sea worm creates a toxic yellow pigment found in Rembrandt and Cézanne paintings Mohana Basu 2025
fbharjo commented on the word orpiment
orpiment golden pigment: or-pi(g)ment: orp also has a conatation of the arsenic it contains
January 14, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word orpiment
"Jack was speaking to the gunner at the time, explaining that the private powder in the kegs marked X was mixed with red orpiment, and XX with antimony or copper, while still others had lycoperdium or camphor or strontium..."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission, 50
February 11, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word orpiment
Another usage:
"The brilliant white of camphor, the green of brass filings, a rosy pink, a most uncommon violet derived from orpiment, and so it went at perfectly regular intervals... to the final prodigious blast from the aftermost carronade, crammed with a deafening, blinding mixture of pedok, datang and colophony."
--Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, 211
March 4, 2008