stain
/steɪn/
stain noun: a discolored spot or area caused by spillage or other contact with certain fluids or substances.
Noun
stain (plural stains)
- A discolored spot or area caused by spillage or other contact with certain fluids or substances.
- A blemish on one's character or reputation.
- A substance used to soak into a surface and colour it.
- The wood will darken whether it is stained or not—the main function of a stain is to enhance the wood's natural color and emphasize its grain.1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 93
- A reagent or dye used to stain microscope specimens so as to make some structures visible.
- One of a number of non-standard tinctures used chiefly in post-medieval heraldry, especially tenné, murrey, or sanguine.
Verb
stain (third-person singular simple present stains, present participle staining, simple past and past participle stained)
- To discolor, as by spilling or other contact with a fluid or substance.
- to stain the hand with dye
- armour stained with blood
- To taint or tarnish someone's character or reputation
- of Honour void,
Of Innocence, of Faith, of Puritie,
Our wonted Ornaments now soild and staind1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC...
- of Honour void,
- To coat a surface with a stain
- to stain wood with acids, coloured washes, paint rubbed in, etc.
- the stained glass used for church windows
- To become stained; to take a stain.
- To treat (a microscopic specimen) with a dye, especially one that dyes specific features
- To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison.
- She stains the ripest virgins of her age.c. 1607–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Cupid’s Revenge”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act II, scene...
- that did all other beasts in beauty stain1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], Daphnaïda. An Elegy upon the Death of the Noble and Vertuous Douglas Howard,Daughter and Heire of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Byndon, and Wife of Arthure Gorges Esquier....
stain meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
stain in Hindi
- discoloured spot or area
- दाग dāg, दाग़ dāġ
stain in Tamil
- கறை
stain in Marathi
- डाग
stain in Urdu
- discoloured spot or area
- دھبا dhabbā, داغ dāġ
More languagesFewer languages
- stain in Bengali
- দাগ dag, মল mol
- stain in Telugu
- మరక maraka, డాగు ḍāgu, కర kara
- stain in Malayalam
- കറ kaṟa
- stain in Kannada
- ಕಲೆ, ಕಾರೆ
- stain in Punjabi
- ਦਾਗ਼
- stain in Gujarati
- ડાઘો ḍāgho, કળણ kaḷaṇ
- stain in Odia
- ଛୁତି chuti
- stain in Sanskrit
- रेपस् repas
- stain in Assamese
- চেকা seka, দাগ dag
- stain in Nepali
- दाग
- stain in Arabic
- بُقْعَة buqʕa
- stain in Persian
- لکه lakke
- stain in Thai
- คราบ krâap
- stain in Vietnamese
- tật, vết
- stain in Myanmar
- အစွန်း a.cwan:
Examples of stain in a sentence
- He applied a gram positive stain, looking for rods indicative of Listeria.
- During washing, the red from the rug ran onto the white sheet, staining it pink.
- The new stain remover was ten times more effective than the competition.
Synonyms of stain
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of stain
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | stains |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | stains |
| present participle | staining |
| past participle | stained |
| past | stained |
Origin of stain
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 destaindre (“to remove the color from, bleach”), from des- (“dis-, de-, un-”) + teindre (“to dye”), from Latin tingo.
Words formed from stain
- antistain
- bestain
- bloodstain
- blue stain
- cockstain
- coffee stain effect
- Colorado brown stain
- crapstain
- cumstain
- cuntstain
- dickstain
- Feulgen stain
- fuckstain
- Giemsa stain
- Gömöri stain
- green stain
- green-stain
- hit a stain
- hypostain
- immunostain
- inkstain
- Kinyoun stain
- Leishman stain
- milkstain
- mudstain
- oncostain
- pet stain
- phosphostain
- port-wine stain
- pukestain
- ring stain
- Romanowsky stain
- sap stain
- shit stain
- shitstain
- stainful
- stainless
- stain lifter
- stainproof
- stain remover
- tearstain
- unstain
- wankstain
- Wright-Giemsa stain
- Wright-Giemse stain
- Wright's stain
- Ziehl-Neelsen stain
- counterstain
- costain
- overstain
- restain
- stainable
- stainand
- stainer
Phrases with stain
Words that rhyme with stain
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- drain
- pane
- gain
- main
- sustain
- vein
- entertain
- skein
- Wayne
- abstain
- bane
- campaign
- champagne
- crane
- entrain
- fain
- insane
- maine
- pain
- plane
- wane
- Aquitaine
- ascertain
- chicane
- contain
- detain
- explain
- maintain
- mundane
- obtain
- refrain
- remain
- vane
- amain
- arcane
- Blaine
- complain
- deign
- detrain
- distrain
- kane
- ordain
- pertain
- profane
- public domain
- reign
- swain
- terrain
Questions about stain
- What does stain mean?
- Stain means a discolored spot or area caused by spillage or other contact with certain fluids or substances.
- What is stain in Hindi?
- Stain in Hindi is दाग (dāg), दाग़ (dāġ). See Stain meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is stain?
- Stain can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce stain?
- Stain is pronounced /steɪn/.
- What is the plural of stain?
- The plural of stain is stains.
Words near stain in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stain (page history and authors); stain (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stain (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); দাগ (Bengali) (page history and authors); కర (Telugu) (page history and authors); കറ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); stain (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); stain (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); કળણ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଛୁତି (Odia) (page history and authors); stain (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-stain.wav.
Cite this entry: “stain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.