Tint

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /tɪnt/

Definitions

1. A slight or pale shade of color, or to apply such a coloring to something
2. A subtle variation in color that may also refer to the act of adding a hue to an object or material
3. A delicate shade or hue which can be achieved by mixing colors or applying a coloring layer

Etymology: "Tint" began life as "tinct," a close cousin of "tincture" that was dyed with the same Latin verb: "tīnctus," "dyed," the past participle of "tingō," "to tinge." Over time the word was shortened by contraction, and it was reshaped under the influence of French "teinte," which carries the same sense of a shade of colour. The result is a word that sounds like a tiny, almost incidental change of hue, yet it is built on the idea of soaking something in dye. The shorter form also gave English a useful pair of relatives. "Tent," the name of a kind of deep red wine, is a doublet of "tint," meaning the two words descend from the same Latin source by separate routes, so one came into English as a wine term and the other as a word for colour. Related forms appear across European languages, including Italian "tinta," Spanish "tinta," and German "Tinte," which all trace back to the same dyeing verb.

Synonyms: shade, hue, tinge, color, dye

Antonyms: bleach, whiten, decolorize