Taint
/teɪnt/noun
To contaminate, corrupt, or give something an unpleasant or harmful quality.
Did you know?Medieval English extended the idea of a physical stain into moral language, so a person, reputation, or soul could be described as “tainted.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*tengʰ-
“To touch, handle, or affect; a proposed ancestral root connected with Latin dyeing vocabulary.”
Classical Latin
Latin
tingere
“To moisten, dye, color, or stain.”
Old French
Old French
teindre
“To dye or color; the source of the Anglo-French forms behind English taint.”
Anglo-French
Anglo-French
teynt / teint
“Dyed, colored, or stained.”
14th Century
Middle English
teynten
“To stain, contaminate, or corrupt; the figurative sense began developing alongside the physical one.”
Modern English
English
taint
“To contaminate or corrupt physically, morally, or reputationally.”