Etymograph

English

tinge

Tinge comes from Latin tingō ‘to dip’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *teng-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-1‘to soak, dip, make wet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tengō1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtingō2‘to dip’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtingere2present active infinitive of tingō
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1658tinge2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tingo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English tinge
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1658, Felix Würtz, Slaves: “[T]he water being ting'd red, cant it off, iterate…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-Wiktionary, Latin tingo‘to soak, dip, make wet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tengōWiktionary, Latin tingoreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtingōWiktionary, English tinge‘to dip’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtingereWiktionary, English tingepresent active infinitive of tingō
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1658tingeWiktionary, English tinge. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1658, Felix Würtz, Slaves: “[T]he water being ting'd red, cant it off, iterate…”

The story

The noun is derived from the verb.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

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

think, thought, thank, dunk, 21 more

through Latin tingō ‘to dip’

tent, tincture, 7 more

Today it means

noun A small added amount of colour; (by extension) a small added amount of some other thing.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tinge”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin tingo. 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- / tinge

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