Meanings
scarlet1
plural scarlets
- countableuncountableA brilliant red colour sometimes tinged with orange.
Biblical criteria of sexual seductiveness include a white skin, black hair, or henna-dyed, scarlet lips, a prominent nose, rosy temples, long straight neck, firm breasts, round thighs, an erect posture.
1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 219 - countableuncountableCloth of a scarlet color.
All her household are clothed with scarlet.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 31:21
comparative more scarlet · superlative most scarlet
- Of a bright red colour.
1 more example
Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.
1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168 - IrelandBlushing; embarrassed or mortified.
He signed off our correspondence, “Well thank God for facemasks, cos I’m scarlet”.
26 October 2021, Aisling Marron, I brought the baby to her first vaccinations. Her look said: why have you betrayed me?, The Irish Times
present singular third person scarlets · participle present scarleting · participle past scarleted · past scarleted
Scarlet2
plural Scarlets
- A female given name from English, a modern variant of Scarlett, or from the common noun scarlet.
It's not just Ribbons either. It's - get ready for this - Scarlet Ribbons. From an old Harry Belafonte record my mom had when she was about ten or something. When she grew up she was going to have a little girl and call her Scarlet Ribbons.
1979, Joseph Hansen, Skinflick, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, →ISBN, page 96
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveof a color at the end of the color spectrum (next to orange); resembling the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies
nouna variable color that is vivid red but sometimes with an orange tinge
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinsigillātum“a type of fabric”
- Medieval Greekσιγιλλᾶτον
- Arabicسِقِلَّات
- Classical Persianسقرلات“a warm woollen cloth”
- Medieval Latinscarlātum“scarlet cloth”
- Old Frenchescarlate“a type of cloth”
- Middle Englishscarlet
- Englishscarlet
From Middle English scarlet, scarlat, borrowed from Old French escarlate (“a type of cloth”), from Medieval Latin scarlātum (“scarlet cloth”), of uncertain origin. This was long thought to derive from Classical Persian سقرلات (saqirlāt, “a warm woollen cloth”), but the Persian word (first attested in the 1290s) is now thought to be from Arabic سِقِلَّات (siqillāt), denoting very expensive, luxury silks dyed scarlet-red using the exceptionally expensive dye, first attested around the ninth century. The most obvious route for the Arabic word siqillāt to have entered the Romance languages would be via the Arabic-speaking Iberian region of al-Andalus, particularly Almería, where kermes was produced extensively; compare especially the dialectal form سِقِرْلَاط (siqirlāṭ). The word then came to be used of woollen cloth dyed with the same dye. The Arabic word may itself be derived from Medieval Greek σιγιλλᾶτον (sigillâton), from Latin sigillātum (“a type of fabric”, literally “sealed; sealing”) .
More words from Middle English, Old French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans bloedrooi
- bloedrooicolour
Ancient Greek κόκκινος, κόκκινος
- κόκκινος (kókkinos)colour
- κόκκινος (kókkinos)colour
Arabic سِقِلَّاتِيّ, قِرْمِزِيّ
- سِقِلَّاتِيّ (siqillātiyy)colour
- قِرْمِزِيّ (qirmiziyy)colour
- سِقِلَّاط (siqillāṭ)cloth
- سِقِلَّات (siqillāt)cloth
Bulgarian ален, ален
- ален (alen)colour
- ален (alen)colour
- блуден (bluden)sinful
Catalan escarlata
- escarlatacolour
Chinese Mandarin 深紅色 /深红色, 緋紅 /绯红
- 深紅色 /深红色 (shēnhóngsè)colour
- 緋紅 /绯红 (fēihóng)colour
- 緋紅色 /绯红色 (fēihóngsè)colour
- 深紅色 /深红色 (shēnhóngsè)colour
- 猩紅色 /猩红色 (xīnghóngsè)colour
Czech šarlatová barva, purpur
- šarlatová barvacolour
- purpurcolour
Danish skarlagen
- skarlagencolour
Dutch scharlaken, scharlakenrood
- scharlakencolour
- scharlakenroodcolour
- vuurroodcolour
- scharlakencolour
- scharlakenroodcolour
- vuurroodcolour
Esperanto skarlata, skarlata
- skarlatacolour
- skarlatacolour
Estonian sarlakpunane, ergav
- sarlakpunanecolour
- ergavcolour
Finnish helakanpunainen, tulipunainen
- helakanpunainencolour
- tulipunainencolour
- helakanpunainencolour
- tulipunainencolour
French écarlate, écarlate
- écarlatecolour
- écarlatecolour
German Scharlachrot, Scharlach
- Scharlachrotcolour
- Scharlachcolour
- scharlachrotcolour
- scharlachcolour
Greek άλικο, άλικος
- άλικο (áliko)colour
- άλικος (álikos)colour
Hebrew שָׁנִי
- שָׁנִי (shaní)colour
Hindi क़िरमिज़, क़िरमिज़ी
- क़िरमिज़ (qirmiz)colour
- क़िरमिज़ी (qirmizī)colour
Hungarian skarlát, skarlátpiros
- skarlátcolour
- skarlátpiroscolour
- skarlátvöröscolour
- élénkvöröscolour
- narancsvöröscolour
- skarlátcolour
- skarlátpiroscolour
- skarlátvöröscolour
- élénkvöröscolour
- narancsvöröscolour
Icelandic skarlat, skarlak
- skarlatcloth
- skarlakcloth
Indonesian merah tua
- merah tuacolour
Irish scarlóid, scarlóideach
- scarlóidcolour
- scarlóideachcolour
Italian scarlatto
- scarlattocolour
Japanese 緋色, 緋色の服
- 緋色 (hiiro)colour
- 緋色の服 (hiiro no fuku)cloth
- 緋色の (hiiro no)colour
- 性的にみだらな (seiteki ni midarana)sinful
Korean 스칼렛
- 스칼렛 (seukallet)colour
Latin coccum, coccinus
- coccumcloth
- coccinuscolour
- puniceuscolour
Malay merah, merah saga
- merahcolour
- merah sagacolour
Māori ngangana
- nganganacolour
Norwegian skarlagen
- skarlagencolour
Norwegian Bokmål skarlagenrød, skarlagensrød
- skarlagenrødcolour
- skarlagensrødcolour
- skarlagencolour
Persian اشکرلاط, سقرلات
- اشکرلاط (eškarlât)colour
- سقرلات (saqerlât)colour
- آل (âl)colour
Polish szkarłat, szkarłatny
- szkarłatcolour
- szkarłatnycolour
- grzesznysinful
- nierządnysinful
Portuguese escarlate, escarlate
- escarlatecolour
- escarlatecloth
- escarlatecolour
Romanian stacojiu, stacojiu
- stacojiucolour
- stacojiucolour
- desfrânatsinful
- stricatsinful
- dezmățatsinful
Russian а́лый, багро́вый
- а́лый (ályj)colour
- багро́вый (bagróvyj)colour
- багря́ный (bagrjányj)colour
- а́лый (ályj)colour
- багро́вый (bagróvyj)colour
- багря́ный (bagrjányj)colour
- пунцо́вый (puncóvyj)colour
Spanish escarlata, escarlata
- escarlatacolour
- escarlatacloth
- escarlatinacloth
- escarlatacolour
Swahili nyekundu
- nyekunducolour
Swedish scharlakansröd, scharlakan
- scharlakansrödcolour
- scharlakancloth
- scharlakansrödcolour
Tagalog iskarlata, eskarlata
- iskarlatacolour
- eskarlatacolour
Turkish kızıl, kızıl
- kızılcolour
- kızılcolour
Ukrainian яскраво-червоний
- яскраво-червоний (jaskravo-červonyj)colour
Vietnamese đỏ
- đỏcolour
Welsh coch, ysgarlad
- cochcolour
- ysgarladcolour
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with scarlet
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
scarlet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scarlet
“scarlet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scarlet. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scarlet,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scarlet.
Source: scarlet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.