# vermeil
## English
### Alternative forms

* vermile

### Etymology

From Middle English vermayle, from Old French vermeil (“vermilion”), from Latin vermiculus (“little worm”), from vermis (“worm”), ultimately in reference to Kermes vermilio, a type of scale insect used to make a crimson dye. Doublet of vermicule.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈvɜː.meɪl/
* (US) IPA: /ˈvɝ.mɪl/, /ˈvɝ.meɪl/

### Adjective

vermeil (comparative more vermeil, superlative most vermeil)
* (poetic, now rare) Bright scarlet, vermilion.
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:And in her cheekes the vermeill red did shew / Like roses in a bed of lillies shed […].
** 1818, John Keats, Endymion‎, Book I, lines 49-51:Many and many a verse I hope to write, Before the daisies, vermeil rimm’d and white, Hide in deep herbage;
* (poetic, now rare) Specifically of faces, lips etc.: red, ruddy, healthy-looking.
** 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 36, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:his carriage; demeanor, and venerable behaviour, in a face so young, vermeill, and heart enflaming […].
** 1820, Charles Maturin, Melmoth the Wanderer:a lip as vermeil as her own. (IV, xxx)

### Noun

vermeil (plural vermeils)
* (poetic) Vermilion; bright red.
** 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:The mortall steele stayed not till it was seene / To gore her side; yet was the wound not deepe, / But lightly rased her soft silken skin, / That drops of purple blood thereout did weepe, / Which did her lilly smock with staines of vermeil steep.
* Silver gilt or gilt bronze.
* A liquid composition applied to a gilded surface to give luster to the gold.

#### Related terms

* vermillion

### Anagrams

* vermile

## French
### Etymology

Inherited from Middle French vermeil, from Old French vermeil, syncopated form of Latin vermiculus (“little worm”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /vɛʁ.mɛj/
* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

vermeil (feminine vermeille, masculine plural vermeils, feminine plural vermeilles)
* bright red; vermilion
* (of mouth, lips, etc.) ruby; cherry
* rosy

### Noun

vermeil m (plural vermeils)
* vermeil (gold-plated silver with a reddish hue)

### Further reading

* “vermeil”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Middle French
### Etymology

From Old French vermeil.

### Adjective

vermeil m (feminine singular vermeille, masculine plural vermeils, feminine plural vermeilles)
* vermillion

#### Descendants

* French: vermeil

### References

* vermeil on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

## Old French
### Alternative forms

* vermail, vermoil

### Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *vermiclus, syncopated form of Latin vermiculus (“little worm”).

### Adjective

vermeil m (oblique and nominative feminine singular vermeile)
* vermillion

#### Declension

| Number | Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
| Singular | Subject | vermaus | vermeille | vermeil |
| Singular | Oblique | vermeil | vermeille | vermeil | vermeille | vermeil |
| Plural | Subject | vermeil | vermeilles | vermeil | vermeil |
| Plural | Oblique | vermaus | vermeilles | vermeil | vermeilles | vermeil |

#### Descendants

* Middle French: vermeil
** French: vermeil
* → Middle English: vermayle
** English: vermeil