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DictionaryRoot: sēpia
Greek

sēpia

cuttlefish

1 / 1
noun / adjective

sepia

SEE-pee-uh/sˈipiʌ/

A reddish-brown coloring traditionally made from cuttlefish ink.

The old photograph shares the pigment swatch's reddish-brown sepia tones.

A broad reddish-brown pigment swatch beside an old photograph rendered in the same sepia tones, making the color and its photographic association visible without people or explanatory text.
Etymology
sepiaGreekcuttlefish

The cuttlefish gave its name to a brown pigment made from its secretions, and then to the color itself. The deeper origin of the animal’s Greek name is uncertain.

In context

Real Science3:25
cuttlefish were prized for their ink which produced a long lasting brown pigment used for writing and coloring cloth in fact that's what gave them their name in those languages sepia like the color sepia
The Insane Biology of: The Cuttlefish

More examples

  • She sketches the old barn in sepia.
  • The portrait has soft sepia tones.
  • A wash of sepia gives the paper a warm, aged look.

Forms

sepia

Similar words

sienna
A reddish-brown earth pigment rather than one from cuttlefish ink.
umber
An earth pigment typically darker and less reddish than sepia.