sindoorn.
/ˈsɪndʊə/, U.S. /ˈsɪndʊ(ə)r/ Pigment made from powdered red lead or vermilion, esp. as applied traditionally as a dot on the forehead or in the parting of the hair of a married Hindu woman.
ΚΠ
1788 J. Earles tr. Treat. Horses entitled Saloter i. ii. 27 A horse whose face, palate, and yard, are red, and every other part of the colour of Sindoor.
1836 Jrnl. Asiatic Soc. Jan. 3 The stone of Rustam,..which the Hindús..reverence so far as to pay occasional visits to it, light lamps, and daub it with Sindūr or red lead.
1868 Trans. Ethnol. Soc. London 6 26 The bride and bridegroom..are then brought outside, and the ceremony of touching each other's forehead with the ‘sindoor’ is performed.
1928 Folk-lore 39 343 This he anoints with sindur, just as a bridegroom applies red-lead or vermilion to the forehead of his bride.
1987 R. Randhawa Wicked Old Woman 82 Rosalind hates this doctor. Hates the Indian beauty in a sari, gold bangles jangling on her wrist,..the sindoor in her hair and the red dot on her forehead.
2000 N.Y. Times Mag. 17 Sept. 126/2 An arranged marriage brought her from India... She hadn't neglected the venerable Hindu mark of a married woman, the smudge of red sindoor powder in the parting of her hair.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1788