stain

Meanings

Noun

• 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.
• Any of a number of non-standard tinctures used in modern heraldry.

Verb

• To discolour.
• To taint or tarnish someone's character or reputation
• To coat a surface with a stain
• To become stained; to take a stain.
• To treat (a microscopic specimen) with a dye, especially one that dyes specific features
• To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison.

Origin

• From Middle English steinen, steynen, of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse steina ("to stain, colour, paint"), from steinn, from Proto-Norse ᛊᛏᚨᛁᚾᚨᛉ, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂-. Cognate with Old English stān. More at stone.
• Replaced native Middle English wem from Old English wem.
• In some senses, influenced by unrelated Middle English disteynen, from Anglo-Norman desteindre, from Old French destaindre, from des- + teindre, from Latin tingo.