paint
pronunciation
How to pronounce paint in British English:
UK [peɪnt]
How to pronounce paint in American English:
US [peɪnt]
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- Noun:
- a substance used as a coating to protect or decorate a surface (especially a mixture of pigment suspended in a liquid); dries to form a hard coating
- (basketball) a space (including the foul line) in front of the basket at each end of a basketball court; usually painted a different color from the rest of the court
- makeup consisting of a pink or red powder applied to the cheeks
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- Verb:
- make a painting
- apply paint to; coat with paint
- make a painting of
- apply a liquid to; e.g., paint the gutters with linseed oil
Word Origin
- paint
- paint: [13] Paint comes ultimately from an Indo- European base *pik-, *pig-. This originally meant ‘cut’ (English file comes from it), but it broadened out via ‘decorate with cut marks’ and simply ‘decorate’ to ‘decorate with colour’ (whence English pigment). A nasalized version of the base produced Latin pingere ‘paint’, which reached English via Old French peindre and its past participle peint (the Latin past participle pictus is the source of English Pict and picture, and also lies behind depict).=> depict, picture, pigment
- paint (v.)
- early 13c., "represent in painting or drawing, portray;" early 14c., "paint the surface of, color, stain;" from Old French peintier "to paint," from peint, past participle of peindre "to paint," from Latin pingere "to paint, represent in a picture, stain; embroider, tattoo," from PIE root *peig- (1), also *peik- "to cut" (cognates: Sanskrit pimsati "hews out, cuts, carves, adorns," Old Church Slavonic pila "file, saw," Lithuanian pela "file"). Sense evolution between PIE and Latin was, presumably, from "decorate with cut marks" to "decorate" to "decorate with color." Compare Sanskrit pingah "reddish," pesalah "adorned, decorated, lovely," Old Church Slavonic pegu "variegated;" Greek poikilos "variegated;" Old High German fehjan "to adorn;" Old Church Slavonic pisati, Lithuanian piesiu "to write." Probably also representing the "cutting" branch of the family is Old English feol (see file (n.2)). To paint the town (red) "go on a spree" first recorded 1884; to paint (someone or something) black "represent it as wicked or evil" is from 1590s. Adjective paint-by-numbers "simple" is attested by 1970; the art-for-beginners kits themselves date to c. 1953.
- paint (n.)
- late 13c. (in compounds), "that with which something is painted," from paint (v.). Of rouge, make-up, etc., from 1650s. Paint brush attested from 1827.
Example
- 1. What we do well is curating inspiring ideas to help companies paint a picture where innovation can happen . "
- 2. No us manufacturer would think to use lead paint .
- 3. They paint their faces , scream and wave flags .
- 4. We need delacroix to paint them .
- 5. Solar wallpaper , solar paint who needs fossil fuels ?