Etymograph

English

teinture

Teinture comes from French teinture ‘a liquid dye, colourant’, from Latin tinctus ‘impregnated with, dipped in’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teng- ‘to make wet’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-1‘to make wet’next step skipped: Latin tingō
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtinctus2‘impregnated with, dipped in’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtinctūra2
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tainture2
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600teinture2
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentteinture1‘a liquid dye, colourant’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1799teinture1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English teinture
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French teinture
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1799, The Gleaner, No. VII: “Thy blithe vivacity, yet manners meek, Thy waving ringlets…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-Wiktionary, English teinture‘to make wet’next step skipped: Latin tingō
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtinctusWiktionary, French teinture‘impregnated with, dipped in’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtinctūraWiktionary, French teinture
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400taintureWiktionary, French teinture
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600teintureWiktionary, French teinture
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentteintureWiktionary, English teinture‘a liquid dye, colourant’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1799teintureWiktionary, English teinture. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1799, The Gleaner, No. VII: “Thy blithe vivacity, yet manners meek, Thy waving ringlets…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *teng- ‘to make wet’

think, thought, thank, dunk, tinge, 20 more

through Latin tinctus ‘impregnated with, dipped in’

tent, 3 more

through Latin tinctūra

tincture, 1 more

Today it means

noun colour; tinge; tincture

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “teinture”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for French teinture. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *teng- / teinture

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