- vermeil (n.)
- "bright-red;" c.1400, from Anglo-French and Old French vermail (11c. in Old French), from Late Latin vermiculus "a little worm," specifically, the cochineal insect from which crimson dyes were obtained (cf. kermes), in classical Latin, "larva of an insect, grub, maggot," diminutive of vermis "worm" (see worm (n.)). As an adjective from 1580s.