Home › Glossary › Letter C

Cinnabar

Gemstones
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A red mercury sulfide symbolizing vitality, transformation, and sacred energy.

Detailed Definition
Cinnabar’s vermilion hue made it sacred in ancient rituals; in poetry, it represents life force and alchemical change. Poets use it to explore the thin line between creation and destruction—how mercury’s fluidity mirrors the soul’s capacity to reshape itself. Its toxicity reminds that power demands respect.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poet writes, “Cinnabar is the alchemist’s blood—red with danger, sacred with power”; in Chinese-inspired verse, it symbolizes immortality and imperial authority; its toxicity becomes metaphor for necessary risk in transformation; modern eco-poetry uses it to explore the beauty and peril of mercury; in ritual verse, cinnabar marks thresholds of change; its vermilion hue appears in poems about passionate, dangerous truth.
Additional Notes
Cinnabar is a bright red mercury sulfide mineral, the primary ore of mercury and source of vermilion pigment; though toxic, its vivid color has long symbolized life, passion, and alchemy—poets may use it to explore dangerous beauty, transformation, or the price of brilliance.
Other Meanings of “Cinnabar”
Also Known As
Vermilion (when powdered)
Skip to main content