A.Word.A.Day --sienna

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Oct 11, 2010

This week's theme
Words about colors

This week's words
sienna
nankeen
gamboge
sinopia
solferino

Sienna

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Although the maple tree outside my window has been going bald since August, autumn officially began in the Northern Hemisphere only a couple of weeks ago. Other trees have joined in now. Leaves are turning yellow and brown and red and other shades in between.

This week's words in AWAD will help you describe the colors of autumn. All of these five words for colors are inspired by the names of places around the world. In our search for their origins, we'll visit Italy, China, Cambodia, and Turkey.

sienna

PRONUNCIATION:

(see-EN-uh)

MEANING:

noun: A color derived from clay, ranging from yellowish brown (in raw form) to reddish brown (when roasted).

ETYMOLOGY:

From Italian terra di Siena (earth of Siena). After Siena, a city in Italy once noted for the mining of this mineral. In its roasted form, the color is known as burnt sienna.

USAGE:

"Once you plow through the manual, you can program all your preferred settings, meaning the oven will remember just which shade of sienna you like your toast."
Melissa Clark; Compact Cookery; The New York Times; Aug 24, 2005.

See more usage examples of sienna in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. -Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)

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