Meaning & use
Minium
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A bright red or orange lead oxide pigment, historically used in painting and in illuminated manuscripts.
See it in a sentence
Medieval scribes used minium to paint the decorative capital letters at the start of a chapter.
The bridge's old protective coating once contained minium, valued for resisting rust.
A note on using this word
The word "miniature" originally derives from "minium," since manuscript illustrators used the red pigment before the term came to mean "small."
Words with a similar meaning
red lead
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