red chalk

4.9

A soft red-brown material used for drawing lines and pictures

noun
/rɛd tʃɔk/

: tiza roja

On the greenish-black wall, someone has scrawled in red chalk, "SILENCIO!"

Examples

This self-portrait of the famous artist and inventor was composed in red chalk.
A red chalk portrait of a boy's head, attributed to Annibale Carracci, once graced the collection of the great English painter Thomas Lawrence.
So I have my blue and my red chalk over here to demonstrate what I mean.
This self-portrait of the famous artist and inventor was composed in red chalk.

Blog text (9)
For example, a red chalk drawing from the 1500s, believed to be a self-portrait, is at risk of vanishing.

Synonyms

sanguine

vsred chalk

Specialized

1 8.8

A deep red color often used by artists for drawing

is a specific reddish brown drawing material rather than a general color

Indian red

vsred chalk

6.2

A warm red-brown color often used in paint and design

is a drawing medium with a dry bloodlike tone rather than a general pigment

Surface Forms

red chalk singular

red chalks plural

Morphology

red + chalk

The meaning 'a reddish-brown chalk' is directly and compositionally derived from 'red' (a color) + 'chalk' (a drawing material). This adjective+noun combination follows a regular descriptive pattern common across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand it.

Etymology

Red chalk is a literal name for the reddish-brown chalk sticks artists used that looked a little like dried blood. Because old artists used them for soft portraits and quick 'sketches', red chalk came to mean the red-brown chalk used for 'drawing' and 'art'.