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Added 9 October 2026

tincture

/ˈtɪŋ(k)tʃə/ noun

Latin root: tīnctūra Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about tincture at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A substance that colors or dyes.
An indication that something has been present.
there wasn't a trace of evidence for the claim
A quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color.
after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted

verb

Fill, as with a certain quality.
The heavy traffic tinctures the air with carbon monoxide
Stain or tinge with a slight amount of a color.
The sky was tinctured red

Origin

The noun is derived from Late Middle English tincture (“a dye, pigment; a colour, hue, tint; process of colouring or dyeing; medicinal ointment or salve (perhaps one discolouring the skin); use of a medicinal tincture; (alchemy) transmutation of base metals into gold; ability to cause such transmutation; substance supposed to cause such transmutation”) [and other forms], borrowed from Latin tīnctūra (“act of dyeing”) + Middle English -ure (suffix indicating an action or a process and the means or result of that action or process).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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