complexion
1
9.9
- noun
- /kəmˈplɛkʃən/
- Archaic
:
complexión
- According to the treatise, people with reddish-white complexions are firelike in their temperaments, and those that are evenly red and white have sound character.
Examples
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The Ottoman portraits make claims about the ruler's fitness to rule by representing him with the appropriate complexion, height, eyebrows, and nose.
Academic text (2013) -
Yet methinks 'tis very sultry and hot for my complexion.
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His hair was still damp, and his complexion was a pale shade of green.
Fiction book (1992) -
The new one is as ugly now as the old one was at first; it has the same sulfur-and-raw-meat complexion and the same singular head without any fur on it.
Fiction book (1999) -
Thus, while Osman, the eponymous founder of the dynasty, has dark skin, all his descendants are described as having reddish-white complexions.
Academic text (2013) -
According to ancient beliefs, a person's complexion could indicate their health and temperament.
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Historically, a fair complexion was often associated with good health and nobility.
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The treatise explained how different complexions reflected a person's internal balance of humors.
Compounds
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Complexion originally meant a 'joining together' of qualities from Latin com- 'together' and plectere 'to weave', and people once used it for the mix of body qualities, like the four humors. That's why, in old medicine, a person's complexion was thought to decide their health and mood.