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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

taint.

A contamination, decay or putrefaction, especially in food.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/teɪnt/
  1. A contamination, decay or putrefaction, especially in food.

  2. A tinge, trace or touch.

  3. A mark of disgrace, especially on one's character; blemish.

  4. Tincture; hue; colour.

    obsolete
  5. Infection; corruption; deprivation.

    obsolete
  6. A marker indicating that a variable is unsafe and should be subjected to additional security checks.

Where this word comes from

From Middle French teint, from Old French teint (past participle of teindre (“to dye, to tinge”)), from Latin tinctum (past participle of tingere); compare tint.

verb/teɪnt/
  1. To contaminate or corrupt (something) with an external agent, either physically or morally.

    transitive
  2. To spoil (food) by contamination.

    transitive
  3. To be infected or corrupted; to be touched by something corrupting.

    intransitive
  4. To be affected with incipient putrefaction.

    intransitive
    Meat soon taints in warm weather.
  5. To mark (a variable) as unsafe, so that operations involving it are subject to additional security checks.

    transitive
  6. To invalidate (a share capital account) by transferring profits into it.

    Australia · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle French teint, from Old French teint (past participle of teindre (“to dye, to tinge”)), from Latin tinctum (past participle of tingere); compare tint.

noun/teɪnt/
  1. A thrust with a lance, which fails of its intended effect.

  2. An injury done to a lance in an encounter, without its being broken; also, a breaking of a lance in an encounter in a dishonorable or unscientific manner.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English taynt, aphetic form of attaynt, atteynt, from Old French atteinte (“a blow, stroke”). Compare with attaint.

verb/teɪnt/
  1. To damage, as a lance, without breaking it; also, to break, as a lance, but usually in an unknightly or unscientific manner.

    transitive
  2. To thrust ineffectually with a lance.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English taynt, aphetic form of attaynt, atteynt, from Old French atteinte (“a blow, stroke”). Compare with attaint.

noun/teɪnt/
  1. The perineum.

    US · slang · vulgar
Where this word comes from

Reportedly from the phrase “'tain't your balls and 'tain't your ass”. Ascribed to E.E. Landy's Underground Dict. (1972) is the following explanation: ‘'taint their ass and 'taint their pussy.’

contraction/teɪnt/
  1. Alternative spelling of 'taint.

    alt-of · alternative · contraction
Where this word comes from

Contraction of it + ain't.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.