/ˈsiːpiə/
OriginBorrowed from Latin sēpia (“cuttlefish”), from Ancient Greek σηπία (sēpía). Cognate with Italian seppia, Portuguese siba, and Spanish sepia.
- uncountableA dark brown pigment made from the secretions of the cuttlefish.
“Sepia had some use in ancient times as a writing ink, and in modern times has has occasionally been used as a pigment, but it never attained any popularity, as it is extremely fugitive.”
- uncountableA dark, slightly reddish, brown colour.
- broadly, countableA sepia-coloured drawing or photograph.
- archaic, countableA cuttlefish.
- Of a dark reddish-brown colour.
“Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high ”
“Only now did he realise how few colours there had been at the end of the universe. The world had been sepia, drained of colour and light.”
Formssepias(plural) · more sepia(comparative) · most sepia(superlative)