stain

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A dirty mark that is hard to remove.

   The wine left a dark stain on the carpet.

2. 2
   verb

   To leave a dirty mark on something that is difficult to remove.

   The spilt coffee stained the white tablecloth.

3. 3
   noun

   A liquid used to colour wood or other surfaces.

   He applied a dark stain to the new shelves.

4. 4
   verb

   To damage someone's good reputation.

   The scandal stained the politician's reputation.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Stain entered English in the late Middle Ages as a shortened form of distain. That word came from Old French desteindre, “to color differently from the natural color,” and ultimately from Latin tingere, “to dye or color.”

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 blue, colour, stain”), from Proto-Norse ᛊᛏᚨᛁᚾᚨᛉ (stainaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”). Cognate with Old English stān (“stone”). More at stone. Replaced native Middle English wem (“spot, blemish, stain”), from Old English wamm (“spot, stain”). In some senses, influenced by unrelated Middle English disteynen (“to discolor, remove the colour from"; literally, "de-col…

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