English

Alternative forms

• alizarine

Noun

alizarin ‎(plural alizarins)

1. (chemistry) A substance, 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone, extracted from madder root and having a distinctive red colour.
   • 2010, Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of all Maladies, Fourth Estate 2011, p. 82:

     In 1883, the German output of alizarin, the brilliant red chemical that imitated natural carmine, reached twelve thousand tons, dwarfing the amount being produced by Perkin's factory in London.

2. A type of red or crimson dye

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