incarnadine

1 of 2

adjective

in·​car·​na·​dine in-ˈkär-nə-ˌdīn 

-ˌdēn,

-dən

1

: having the pinkish color of flesh

2

: red

especially : bloodred

incarnadine

2 of 2

verb

incarnadined; incarnadining

transitive verb

: to make incarnadine : redden

Did you know?

Carn- is the Latin root for "flesh," and "incarnates" is Latin for flesh-colored. English speakers picked up the "pinkish" sense of "incarnadine" back in the late 1500s. Since then, the adjective has come to refer to the dark red color of freshly cut, fleshy meat as well as to the pinkish color of the outer skin of some humans. The word can be used as a verb, too, meaning "to redden." Shakespeare used it that way in Macbeth: "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red."

Examples of incarnadine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

The colors are too much for words: imperial purple, incarnadine orange, gold. —Ben Huberman, Longreads, 8 Sep. 2017

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

Middle French incarnadin, from Old Italian incarnadino, from incarnato flesh-colored, from Late Latin incarnatus

First Known Use

Adjective

1591, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1605, in the meaning defined above

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