sinople

noun

1. A shade of red; sinoper.

   countable, obsolete, uncountable

2. Sinoper, a kind of red earth historically used as a pigment, originally imported to Greece from Sinope in Paphlagonia.

   countable, obsolete, uncountable

3. Ferruginous quartz of a blood-red or brownish red colour, sometimes with a tinge of yellow, used to make the pigment sinopia.

   countable, uncountable

4. Vert (green).

   countable, obsolete, uncountable

   In heraldry, sinople (the green of blazonry) also signified love, joy, abundance.

Where it comes from

From Old French sinople, from Latin Sinōpis, from Ancient Greek Σινωπίς (Sinōpís, “of Sinope”), a town that exported a red ocher. The unexpected change to meaning "green" in heraldry occurred in French texts around 1350 for unclear reasons.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry sinople (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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