Purpurous

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈpɜː(ɹ)pəɹəs/

Definitions

Of, relating to, or having the color of purple, which ranges from violet to reddish hues
Displaying a purplish tint or coloring that may range toward violet or reddish tones
Exhibiting a shade or tint that resembles the color purple in its variations

Etymology: Behind this color lies a snail. Latin "purpura", borrowed from Greek "porphyra", could mean the purple-yielding sea snail of the Mediterranean, the dye made from it, cloth dyed with it, and the color itself. The most prized version came from Tyre, the Phoenician port, where dyers crushed the snails in such numbers that a single gram of dye cost thousands of lives. The result was not the violet we picture. Pliny the Elder described the finest Tyrian purple as the color of congealed blood: a dark red that looked almost black at first glance but gleamed when held to the light, and was famously resistant to fading. Its price made it a badge of rank. A broad purple stripe on the tunic marked a Roman senator, and in time whole purple garments were reserved for emperors. The Greek word branched in other directions too. A deep red stone was named "porphyry" for its color, and in Constantinople the empresses gave birth in a chamber faced with it. Children born there were called "porphyrogennetos", "born in the purple", a phrase English still uses for anyone born into privilege. English met the Latin word early. Old English borrowed "purpura" as "purpure", and already within Old English the second r turned into an l, a common slip when a word repeats the same sound, giving "purpul" and finally "purple". That worn-down form became the everyday color word. Purpurous belongs to a different and much later layer. Scholars went back to the unaltered Latin and attached the English suffix "-ous", producing a learned, faintly ornate adjective that keeps the r's that "purple" lost. It never displaced its older sibling, and has stayed a word for poets, naturalists and anyone who wants their purple to carry a little of the old imperial weight.

Synonyms: purple, violet, lavender, mauve, plum