zaffre
/ˈzæfə(ɹ)/
zaffre noun: cobalt oxide obtained by roasting cobalt ore, used as a blue pigment.
Noun
zaffre (countable and uncountable, plural zaffres)
- Cobalt oxide obtained by roasting cobalt ore, used as a blue pigment.
- If Zaffre or Regulus of Cobalt be dissolved in the same manner in spirit of nitre, or aqua fortis, a reddish colour is produced on exposing the paper to heat.1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 49
- A cobalt blue colour, like that of the pigment.
Forms of zaffre
| plural | zaffres |
|---|---|
| alternative form | zaffer |
| alternative form | zaffree |
| alternative form | zaffar |
| alternative form | zaffir |
| alternative form | zaphara |
Origin of zaffre
From Italian zaffera, from Latin sapphirus (“sapphire”). Doublet of sapphire.
Words that rhyme with zaffre
Questions about zaffre
- What does zaffre mean?
- Zaffre means cobalt oxide obtained by roasting cobalt ore, used as a blue pigment.
- What part of speech is zaffre?
- Zaffre is a noun.
- How do you pronounce zaffre?
- Zaffre is pronounced /ˈzæfə(ɹ)/.
- What is the plural of zaffre?
- The plural of zaffre is zaffres.
Words near zaffre in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: zaffre (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “zaffre.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zaffre. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.