Euxanthin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A natural yellow coloring compound extracted from or present in plant tissues and flowers
2. A yellow pigment substance produced by certain plants and used historically in dye-making
3. A plant-derived yellow pigment that occurs naturally in botanical matter and organic materials

Etymology: Among the strangest pigments ever traded was a brilliant yellow obtained from cattle urine. In parts of India, cows were fed largely on mango leaves, and their urine was collected and processed into a bright yellow dye that reached European painters under the name Indian yellow. The chemical name is a modern coinage built from Greek. "Eu" means "well" or "good," and "xanthos" means "yellow," so the compound roughly means "good yellow." The "-in" ending is the standard suffix chemists use for naming isolated organic substances, so the word reflects the work of scientists who identified the compound, not any classical usage.