noun
dark-red pigment; rouge
Refers to a traditional dark-red pigment, historically used in cosmetics and dyeing. The word itself is not commonly used in everyday conversation; the pigment is more often referred to by its modern name or described as えんじ色.
昔の紅は、臙脂という顔料から作られていた。
Old-fashioned rouge was made from a pigment called えんじ.
noun
Abbreviation of 臙脂色 (えんじいろ). Used as a color name, but in modern Japanese the full form えんじ色 is much more common. The standalone えんじ is mostly seen in traditional or literary contexts.
See also: 臙脂色
彼女は臙脂の着物を着ていた。
She wore a dark-red kimono.
noun
Refers to the cochineal insect or the red dye derived from it. This sense is technical and historical; the modern term is コチニール.
See also: 生臙脂
臙脂は、カイガラムシから採れる染料の一種だ。
Cochineal is a type of dye obtained from scale insects.
Variant kanji spelling; even less common than 臙脂.
Obscure variant; not in practical use.
The kanji 臙脂 are ateji for the color name, originally derived from the name of a red pigment. The reading えんじ is believed to come from Chinese, but the exact derivation is uncertain.