caput mortuum en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈkæpət ˈmɔː(ɹ)tjʊəm/
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Latin caput mortuum (literally “dead head”).
Meanings
- (uncountable) Worthless residue of sublimation or distillation.
-
(uncountable) Cardinal purple, a variety of haematite iron oxide pigment.
Were they working their way through the colours and now had reached the more abstruse layers of the spectrum? What would be next — caput mortuum, heliotrope? The colours of the day.
2018, Kate Atkinson, Transcription, page 227: