paint

Pronunciation

• IPA: /peɪnt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English peinten, borrowed from Old French peintier (“to paint”),^[2][3] from peint, the past participle of peindre,^[2][4][5] from Latin pingere (“to paint, embroider, tattoo”),^[2][6] from a nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *peig- (“to cut, mark by incision; to colour”).^[2][3][4] The root also gave Sanskrit piṁśati “adorns”, Greek poikílos “variegated”, Old Church Slavonic pisati “to write” and Old English fāh “coloured”.^[2][3][4] Etymonline suggests the sense moved from decorating with cut marks to decorating with colour.^[2] It is related to picture, pigment and depict.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Implied in peintunge, a painting, probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle;^[3] to represent in paint, the mid-13th century in Etymonline and about 1250 in Barnhart.^[2][3] The OED has the verb from about 1290.^[7]

Semantic evolution

To decorate with pictures is from about 1300, and to coat a surface with colour from the early 14th century.^[2] To portray in words is from the 15th century.^[4] The noun, the substance used in painting, is from 1290–1291 in compounds such as peinteselde “paint shop”,^[3][2] and cosmetics for the face from 1660, in Dryden.^[3][2] Paint (someone) black is from the 1590s,^[2] and paint the town red is first found in the United States by 1883, which casts doubt on the story about the Marquis of Waterford at Melton Mowbray in 1837.^[2][8] The paintbrush is from 1827.^[3][2] The Century Dictionary noted that paint, unlike a dye, forms a coating on the surface.^[2]

Timeline

• a. 1200 – peintunge, a painting.^[3]
• c. 1250 – to represent in paint.^[3][2]
• 1290–91 – noun, in compounds.^[3]
• early 14th century – to coat with colour.^[2]
• 1590s – paint black.^[2]
• 1660 – cosmetics.^[3]
• 1827 – paintbrush.^[3][2]
• 1883 – paint the town red.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A coloured liquid that is spread on a surface and dries to form a coating.
2. (paints) A set of colours used by artists.
3. (dated) Cosmetics such as rouge.

Verb

1. To cover a surface with paint.
2. To make a picture using paint.
3. To describe vividly in words.
4. To put make-up or a liquid medicine on.

Word family

• paintability
• paintable
• paintless
• bepaint
• depaint
• greasepaint
• impaint
• inpaint

Related words

• picture
• pigment
• depict
• painter

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press