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Glite Dictionary
lac dye

lac dye

9.9
A bright red dye made from the sticky material of tiny insects
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : tinte de lac
  • The vibrant red of the antique fabric came from lac dye.

Examples

  • Textiles were once colored with lac dye before synthetic dyes became common.

  • The artist used lac dye to create vibrant colors.

  • Researchers studied the composition of lac dye to understand its unique color properties.

  • Many textiles are dyed with lac dye for a rich hue.

  • Textiles were once colored with lac dye before synthetic dyes became common.

  • The vibrant red of the antique fabric came from lac dye.

  • Many textiles are dyed with lac dye for a rich hue.

Synonyms

cochineal
vslac dye
  • Literature
1 9.9

A red dye made from dried insects used to color food and fabric

is derived from plant resin and extracted using an alkali
alizarin carmine
vslac dye
  • Specialized
9.9

A red dye used to color wool and stain samples for study

is a natural scarlet dye derived from plant resin and extracted with alkali

Surface Forms

lac dye singular
lac dyes plural

Morphology

lac + dye

The compound follows a straightforward noun+noun composition where the second noun names the product made from the first: 'lac' (the resin) + 'dye' yields a dye produced from lac. This is a common and cross-linguistically transparent pattern (e.g., 'indigo dye', 'cochineal dye'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words would readily infer it is a dye made from lac, even if 'lac' itself is somewhat specialized vocabulary.

Etymology

Lac dye comes from the sticky substance that small insects leave on tree branches, called stick lac. People collected and heated that substance to make a bright 'red' color for cloth, so lac dye came to mean the red dye made from the insect product.