Etymologically
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paint

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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

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