Stained

How to spell stained

7 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce stained

What does stained mean?

1. adjectiveMarked or discoloured by something that leaves a lasting trace.
2. verbDiscoloured or marked something, or treated wood with a coloured finish, in the past.
3. adjectiveMade of glass that has been coloured, especially in decorative windows.

Stained in a sentence

• adjective

  The stained carpet near the doorway never came fully clean.

• verb

  The red wine stained the white tablecloth during dinner.

• adjective

  The cathedral's stained glass windows glowed in the morning light.

• adjective

  He threw out the stained shirt after the coffee spill set in.

• verb

  She stained the new oak shelves a deep walnut colour.

• adjective

  A restorer carefully repaired the cracked stained glass panel.

Where does stained come from?

Language of origin: French

The base word stain comes into Middle English as steynen, a shortened form of the older verb distain, which English took from Old French desteindre, meaning 'to take the colour out of' or 'to alter colour', built from des- (a reversing prefix) and teindre 'to dye'. That teindre traces back to the Latin tingere, 'to wet, soak, or dye', the same root that gives us tinge and tint. There may also have been reinforcement from the Old Norse steina, 'to paint', which fits the word's early use for deliberate colouring as well as accidental marking. Over time the sense narrowed from any colouring toward the modern idea of an unwanted mark or a deliberate dye applied to wood or glass. The -ed ending is simply the regular English past form, so stained is just stain with that familiar suffix; the spelling trap is purely the 'ai' vowel, which sounds like a long 'a' but is written with two letters.

How the word is built

• stain (to discolour or dye)
• -ed (past tense / past participle suffix)