purpureal
/pɝˈp(j)ʊ.ɹi.əl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "[G]liding thro' his daughter's honour'd ſhades, / The ſmooth Penéus from his glaſſy flood / Reflects purpureal Tempe's pleaſant ſcene?"
- "[T]he fair star / That gems the glittering coronet of morn, / Sheds not a light so mild, so powerful, / As that which, bursting from the Fairy's form, / Spread a purpureal halo round the scene, / Yet with an undulating motion, / Swayed to her outline gracefully."
- "Of all that is most beauteous—imaged there / In happier beauty; more pellucid streams, / An ampler ether, a diviner air, / And fields invested with purpureal gleams; [...]"
- "But not ere him who summoneth / I first have seen, enwound / With glooming robes purpureal, cypress-crowned; [...]"
- "Above the altar-lace / he mounted a triptych of the Assumption / with coarse, purpureal clouds, a prescient Madonna / drawn from Leonardo's "Our Lady of the Rocks.""
Etymology
From Latin purpureus (“purple, violet; brown, reddish; clothed in purple; (figurative) brilliant, shining; beautiful”) + English -al (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Purpureus is either derived: * from purpura (“the colour purple; purple-fish (Hexaplex trunculus)”) (from Ancient Greek πορφῠ́ρᾱ (porphŭ́rā, “purple-fish; purple dye obtained from it; purple-dyed cloth; purple stripe or other adornment of a garment”), from πορφύρω (porphúrō, “to redden”)) + -eus (suffix forming adjectives from nouns); or * from Ancient Greek πορφύρεος (porphúreos, “of a purple colour”), from πορφῠ́ρᾱ (porphŭ́rā) (see above) + -εος (-eos).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: purpureus, πορφῠ́ρᾱ, πορφύρεος
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /pɝˈp(j)ʊ.ɹi.əl/
- British English: /pɜːˈpjʊə.ɹɪ.əl/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more purpureal (comparative)
most purpureal (superlative)