What is "amaranth"

Amaranth \Am"a*ranth\, n. [L. amarantus, Gr. ?, unfading, amaranth; 'a priv. + ? to quench, cause to wither, fr. a root meaning to die, akin to E. mortal; -- so called because its flowers do not soon wither: cf. F. amarante. The spelling with th seems to be due to confusion with Gr. ? flower.]

1. An imaginary flower supposed never to fade. [Poetic]

2. (Bot.) A genus of ornamental annual plants ( Amaranthus) of many species, with green, purplish, or crimson flowers.

3. A color inclining to purple.

1610s, from French amarante, from Latin amarantus, from Greek amarantos, name of an unfading flower, literally "everlasting," from a- "not" + stem of marainein "die away, waste away, quench, extinguish," from PIE *mer- "to rub away, harm" (see nightmare). In classical use, a poet's word for an imaginary flower that never fades. It was applied to a genus of ornamental plants 1550s. Ending influenced by plant names with Greek -anthos "flower."

n. 1 Any of various herbs, of the genus ''Amaranthus''. 2 Their flowers' characteristic purplish red color; a red to purple azo dye used as a food colouring and in cosmetics. 3 The seed of these plants, used as a cereal.

1. n. seed of amaranth plants used as a native cereal in Central and South America

2. any of various plants of the genus Amaranthus having dense plumes of green or red flowers; often cultivated for food

Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth, is a cosmopolitan genus of annual or short-lived perennial plants. Some amaranth species are cultivated as leaf vegetables, pseudocereals, and ornamental plants. Most of the species from Amaranthus are summer annual weeds and are commonly referred to as pigweed. Catkin-like cymes of densely packed flowers grow in summer or autumn. Approximately 60 species are recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to green or gold. Members of this genus share many characteristics and uses with members of the closely related genus Celosia.

"Amaranth" derives from Greek (amárantos), "unfading," with the Greek word for "flower," (ánthos), factoring into the word's development as amaranth. The more accurate amarant is an archaic variant.

Amaranth is a common name for the plants in the genus Amaranthus.

Amaranth may also refer to:

Amaranth, FD&C Red No. 2, E123, C.I. Food Red 9, Acid Red 27, Azorubin S, or C.I. 16185 is a dark red to purple azo dye used as a food dye and to color cosmetics. The name was taken from amaranth grain, a plant distinguished by its red color and edible protein-rich seeds.

Amaranth is an anionic dye. It can be applied to natural and synthetic fibers, leather, paper, and phenol-formaldehyde resins. As a food additive it has E number E123. Amaranth usually comes as a trisodium salt. It has the appearance of reddish-brown, dark red to purple water-soluble powder that decomposes at 120 °C without melting. Its water solution has absorption maximum at about 520 nm. Like all azo dyes, Amaranth was, during the middle of the 20th century, made from coal tar; modern synthetics are more likely to be made from petroleum byproducts.

Since 1976 Amaranth has been banned in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a suspected carcinogen. Its use is still legal in some countries, notably in the United Kingdom where it is most commonly used to give Glacé cherries their distinctive color.

Amaranth is a reddish- rose color that is a representation of the color of the flower of the amaranth plant. The color shown is the color of the red amaranth flower (the color normally considered amaranth), but there are other varieties of amaranth that have other colors of amaranth flowers; these colors are also shown below.

Amaranth is the first studio album of the Korean pop-ballad duo Davichi, released on January 28, 2008. Actress Lee Mi-yeon and former labelmate Lee Hyori starred in the music video for their debut single, "I Love You Even Though I Hate You". Many composers contributed to the album, including Cho Young Soo, Ahn Min Young, and Park Geun Tae.

"Amaranth" is the second single from Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish's Dark Passion Play album, and also the second single with the former frontwoman Anette Olzon. The official debut date was August 22, 2007, but it leaked onto the internet before the official release, though the exact date it leaked is unknown.

The title song features all the band members, but the single contains a bonus track called " While Your Lips Are Still Red", on which Anette and the guitarist Emppu Vuorinen don't play, and this song is also featured on the Finnish film " Lieksa!", released on September 2007. The official video for Amaranth was released on June 15, and has more than 70 million views as of 2014.

On August 24, 2007, the Nightwish's official website reported that "Amaranth" had already achieved gold status in their native Finland two days after its release, meaning sales of over 5000 copies, and on August 29 it was announced that the single had topped the Finnish Singles Chart. On September 6, the official site also announced that Amaranth had reached the top of the charts in Hungary and Spain too.