stain
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -eɪn
Etymology
From Middle English steinen, steynen (“to stain, colour, paint”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse steina (“to stain, colour, paint”), from steinn (“stone, mineral blee, colour, stain”), from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *stAy- (“stone”). Cognate with Old English stān (“stone”). More at stone.
In some senses, influenced by unrelated Middle English disteynen (“to discolor, remove the colour from"; literally, "de-colour”), from Anglo-Norman desteindre (“to remove the colour from, bleach”), from Old French desteindre (“to remove the color from, bleach”), from des- (“dis-, de-, un-”) + teindre (“to dye”), from Latin tingo.
Noun
stain (plural stains)
- A discoloured spot or area.
- A blemish on one's character or reputation.
- A substance used to soak into a surface and colour it.
- A reagent or dye used to stain microscope specimens so as to make some structures visible.
Derived terms
Translations
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Verb
stain (third-person singular simple present stains, present participle staining, simple past and past participle stained)
- To discolour something
- To taint or tarnish someone's character or reputation
- To coat a surface with a stain
- To treat a microscope specimen with a dye
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.