Meanings
- uncountableAchiote.
Martius found most dressed in bits of clothing, their hair wildly tangled and their faces dyed red with urucum.
2006, William Bryant, The Birds of Paradise: Alfred Russel Wallace: a Life, page 672 more examples
They paint them, or at least parts of them, with urucum (reddish) plant dye or even their own blood if there are no urucum plants nearby.
2012, Daniel Everett, Language: The Cultural Tool, Profile, published 2013, page 122Bixin results from lycopene oxidation and it is the main carotenoid found in the seed coat of urucum fruits (Bixa orellana L.), which is cultivated in tropical countries of South and Central America, Africa and Asia.
2013, Uchoa et al., ‘Antioxidant Properties of Singlet Oxygen Suppressors’, in Natural Antioxidants and Biocides from Wild Medicinal Plants, p. 78
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Portugueseurucum
- Portugueseurucum
- Englishurucum
Borrowed from Portuguese urucum, borrowed from Old Tupi uruku, from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *uruku, from Proto-Tupian *ɨrʲuku.
More words from Portuguese
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
urucum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urucum
“urucum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urucum. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “urucum,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/urucum.
Source: urucum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.