---
title: "Madder"
description: "Madder is a red dye made from the roots of Rubia plants, used for millennia to dye textiles in reds, pinks and browns with a mordant."
type: Glossary
url: https://teazle.art/glossary/madder
published: 2026-10-14
updated: 2026-10-14
author: "The Teazle editors"
---

# Madder

*Madder is a red dye made from the roots of Rubia plants, used for millennia to dye textiles in reds, pinks and browns with a mordant.*

The roots of madder, especially Rubia tinctorum, contain alizarin and other red colourants. With different [mordants](https://teazle.art/glossary/mordant.md) madder gives reds, pinks, purples and browns. It produced Turkey red, a famously fast, brilliant red on cotton.

## Is madder still used?

Synthetic alizarin, made from 1869, replaced it commercially, but natural dyers still use madder.


## Sources

1. [Madder (AAT 300013062)](http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300013062). Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus
2. [Madder (Q52063543)](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q52063543). Wikidata

Canonical: https://teazle.art/glossary/madder