Anil

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A natural dye obtained from specific plants that produces a deep blue shade is commonly utilized in textile dyeing
2. A type of blue hue that originates from certain botanical sources, traditionally used in dyeing clothes and fabrics
3. A blue coloring substance extracted from plants used primarily for dyeing fabrics

Etymology: Anil is a word that travelled a long way before reaching English. Its ultimate root is the Sanskrit "nīla," meaning dark blue, which gave rise to the Persian "nīl" and then the Arabic "nīl," the name used for the indigo plant and its dye. Arabic traders and the Andalusian Arabic speakers of Spain carried the word westward, and the Portuguese adopted it as "anil." The name thus follows the trade in indigo itself, which was prized across the medieval world for producing deep blue cloth. From Portuguese, the word passed into Middle French as "anil," and English borrowed it from there. Its earliest English use is a sign of how indigo was valued: the dye was known by a foreign name before English had a common word for the colour it made.