tint

Etymology

It is an alteration of the earlier tinct, recorded from 1602 in Shakespeare's “Hamlet”,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which is from Latin tīnctus (“a dyeing”),^[2][7][6][5] from tingō (“to dye, colour”).^[2][6][5][8] The OED thinks that tinct may already have been pronounced tint, but that Italian tinta (“tint, hue”) may have influenced the technical use in painting;^[3] Barnhart, Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the ODE also allow the Italian influence,^[2][6][4][5] and the Merriam-Webster Unabridged names the Italian word or Spanish tinta, from Late Latin tīncta (“an inked stroke”).^[9] Etymonline also considers a variant of teint, an obsolete form of the noun taint,^[7] and notes an earlier Middle English tinte (“a dye, pigment”), probably taken straight from Latin.^[7] Ayto groups it with tincture and taint, which also go back to the same Latin participle.^[8] The verb, from 1791, is formed from the noun.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A colour or hue, usually a slight or delicate one: 1716, in Pope's epistle to the painter Jervas, printed with Dryden's translation of Du Fresnoy;^[3] Barnhart and Etymonline date it to 1717, in Pope.^[2][7][9]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English through painting: in the 18th century a tint was one of the lighter or deeper shades of a colour,^[3][4] and it was a technical term of painting from 1753, in Hogarth's Analysis of Beauty,^[3] in particular for a colour made lighter by adding white.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a dye; a colour", quoting Pope.^[10] From 1760, in Sterne, it was used figuratively for a slight quality or touch of something.^[3][4] The verb, to give a tint to, followed in 1791 in A. Radcliffe's Romance of the Forest,^[3][2] although Etymonline finds the participle tinted implied from 1756.^[7] In engraving and printing a tint became an even shading produced by fine parallel lines or dots (1880).^[3][4] In the 20th century the word took on a new sense in hairdressing, a colouring less permanent than a dye, as noun and verb (1921);^[3][7] tinted glass is recorded from 1905.^[7] In Irish slang a tint is a small measure of drink.^[11]

Timeline

• 1716 – a colour, hue, or delicate shade.^[3] Barnhart and Etymonline have 1717.^[2][7]
• 1753 – a technical term of painting, in Hogarth.^[3]
• 1760 – figurative, a slight quality or touch of something.^[3]
• 1791 – verb, to give a tint to, to colour slightly.^[3][2][9]
• 1880 – in engraving, an even shading made by fine parallel lines.^[3]
• 1921 – in hairdressing, a temporary colouring for the hair; to colour the hair with it.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shade of a colour, especially a pale or delicate one; a hue: the pink tints of the evening sky.^[12][9][3]
2. A colour made lighter by adding white.^[12][4]
3. A slight trace or touch of something; a tinge: a tint of envy in her praise.^[12][3]
4. A dye for the hair that lasts only a short time, or an application of it.^[12][3]
5. In engraving and printing, an even shading made by fine lines or dots, or a panel of colour used as a background.^[12][3]

Verb

1. To give a tint to; to colour slightly: The low sun tinted the snow orange.^[12][9][3]
2. To colour hair with a tint.^[9][3]
3. To influence or colour slightly: Her memories were tinted by nostalgia.^[9]

Word family

• tinter
• monotint
• overtint
• tintless
• tintometer
• undertint
• retint

Related words

• tinct
• tincture
• tinge
• taint
• stain
• aquatint

Usage notes

Two other words spelled tint have a separate source: tint, a taste, trace or touch (from 1768), and in negative phrases a bit or particle (from 1886), is of uncertain origin; the OED suggests it may be a variant of the dialect word tent, a trial, from Latin.^[3][13][9] Tint, lost, is an old past participle of the verb tine, recorded from before 1340 in Richard Rolle's Psalter.^[3]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
12. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)