stain

CEFRB1

/steɪn/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A dirty or colored mark that is hard to remove.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A blemish on one's character or reputation.

Examples

  • Two shirts and suits, please. There's a stain here.

  • Your collar has a stain on it.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
4
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A substance used to soak into a surface and colour it.

  2. A discolored spot or area caused by spillage or other contact with certain fluids or substances.

  3. A reagent or dye used to stain microscope specimens so as to make some structures visible.

More examples

In context

  • to stain wood with acids, coloured washes, paint rubbed in, etc.

  • to stain the hand with dye

  • armour stained with blood

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The red wine will blank the white cloth if not cleaned quickly.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English steinen, steynen (“to stain, colour, paint”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse steina (“to stain, colour, paint”), from steinn (“stone, mineral blue, colour, stain”), from Proto-Norse ᛊᛏᚨᛁᚾᚨᛉ (stainaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”). Cognate with Old English stān (“stone”). More at stone. Replaced native Middle English wem (“spot, blemish, stain”), from Old English wamm (“spot, stain”). In some senses, influenced by unrelated Middle English disteynen (“to discolor, remove the colour from"; literally, "de-colour”), from Anglo-Norman desteindre (“to remove the colour from, bleach”), from Old French destaind...