pigment Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.)
  2. noun any substance whose presence in plant or animal tissues produces a characteristic color
  3. noun a substance used as a coating to protect or decorate a surface (especially a mixture of pigment suspended in a liquid); dries to form a hard coating
    paint.
    • artists use `paint' and `pigment' interchangeably
  4. verb acquire pigment; become colored or imbued
  5. verb color or dye with a pigment
    • pigment a photograph

WordNet

Pig"ment noun
Etymology
L. pigmentum, fr. the root of pingere to paint: cf. F. pigment. See Paint, and cf. Pimento, Orpiment.
Definitions
  1. Any material from which a dye, a paint, or the like, may be prepared; particularly, the refined and purified coloring matter ready for mixing with an appropriate vehicle.
  2. (Physiol.) Any one of the colored substances found in animal and vegetable tissues and fluids, as bilirubin, urobilin, chlorophyll, etc.
  3. Wine flavored with species and honey. Sir W. Scott.

Webster 1913