India ink
2
4.0
- noun
- /ˈɪndiə ɪŋk/
:
tinta china
- The artist blended India ink with water to achieve different shading effects.
- black India ink
- bottle of India ink
- India ink wash
Examples
-
I have produced prints for bookbinders and for framing; my formal painting work is in watercolor, graphite, oil paint, or India ink.
Blog text (23) -
The words were written in India ink.
Fiction book (1993) -
With great ceremony, he selected a pen, opened a bottle of India ink, and ordered his thoughts.
Fiction book (2002) -
I have a good supply of India ink, and you can use my pens.
Fiction book (1990) -
You used India ink.
Fiction book (2002) -
The Mammal Department has a lot of skeletons of mammals that need to have the catalog numbers written in India ink on each bone.
Academic text (1990) -
He dipped a fine-pointed sable brush into the India ink.
Academic text (1997) -
As he developed the image, he experimented with the elimination of color, limiting his palette to India ink on white paper (Fig. 8).
Academic text (2006) -
She used India ink to create beautiful illustrations in her sketchbook.
-
He wrote his letters using a calligraphy pen dipped in India ink for a classic look.
Synonyms
167
1.0
A colored liquid used for writing, printing, or drawing
A black liquid that you use with a pen or brush to make lines on paper
A coloured liquid used in pens, permanent or washable
How Dark
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun combination 'India' + 'ink' transparently signals a kind or origin of ink, so a B1 learner who knows both words will infer it refers to a particular type of ink (likely associated with India). Although the precise historical origin and the technical detail that it is a carbon‑based black drawing ink are specialized, the basic meaning 'a kind of ink' is directly derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
India ink may come from trade long ago: European artists and writers used a very dark ink that arrived by ship from India, so they called it India ink. That's why the name still means the deep, permanent 'ink' used for drawing and writing.