minium

Noun

minium (usually uncountable, plural miniums)

1. (historical, usually) Cinnabar, especially when used as a pigment; vermilion.
2. (usually) Red lead.
   • The compounds formed by the combination of the peroxide of lead with the protoxide have received the general name of miniums, and are known in commerce as red lead.1861, Robert H. Lamborn, A rudimentary treatise on the Metallurgy of Silver and Lead, page 43
   • [H]e was so overcome by suffering that his face, which had once been of oriental minium, now became like orpiment, and the hams of his lips turned into rancid lard.2007, Giambattista Basile, translated by Nancy L. Canepa, Tale of Tales, Penguin, page 29