Stainless

How to spell stainless

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce stainless

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does stainless mean?

1. adjectiveResistant to staining, rust, or discolouration, especially describing a type of steel.

Stainless in a sentence

• The new kitchen has a stainless steel sink and matching taps.

• Stainless cutlery keeps its shine even after years of daily use.

Where does stainless come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word joins two old pieces of English. The first, 'stain', arrived in Middle English partly from Old French 'desteindre', meaning 'to take the colour out of' or 'to tinge', and partly from the Old Norse verb 'steina', meaning 'to paint' or 'to colour'; over time it came to mean a discolouring mark left on a surface. The suffix '-less' is purely native, descending from the Old English 'leas', which meant 'free from' or 'without', the same ending seen in 'careless', 'fearless', and 'hopeless'. Put together, 'stainless' literally describes something free of stains, a sense recorded from the 1500s. Its most famous modern use, 'stainless steel', dates only to the early twentieth century, coined to advertise an alloy that resisted rust and discolouration. Because both parts are common English words spelled exactly as they sound, the spelling holds few surprises beyond remembering the single 's' that joins them.

How the word is built

• stain (mark, discolour)
• -less (Old English -leas: without, free of)