paint
/peɪnt/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.52 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A substance that is applied as a liquid or paste, and dries into a solid coating that protects or adds colour to an object or surface to which it has been applied.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "fresh coat of paint"
- "René went back into the kitchen and put a pot of coffee on, got out his paints and started on a new painting. He felt inspired."
- "The Nimrods are strong on the outside, but not very good in the paint."
- "Early on it was the Bulldogs who were clearly the aggressors, playing hard in the paint and getting baskets with muscle more than with their shooting prowess."
- "Isaiah Thomas is very clever, very crafty getting to the paint and finishing in the paint."
- "In Game 3, they re-focused on protecting the paint and transition defense. The Cavs scored 106 points in the paint in the first two games and just 20 in Game 3."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Proto-Indo-European *-ti Proto-Indo-European *pinéḱti Proto-Italic *pingō Latin pingō Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tos Latin -tus Latin pictus Vulgar Latin *pinctus French peint Proto-Italic *-āzi ▲ Latin -ereinflu. Latin -āre Old French -ier Old French peintierder. Middle English peynten English paint From Middle English peynten, from Old French peintier, paincter, itself from paint, the past participle of paindre, from Latin pingō (“to paint”) (perfect passive participle pictus). Displaced native Old English tēafor (“paint”), *tīefran (“to paint”); and Old English mētan (“to paint”) and mǣlan (“to paint, mark with colour”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: peynten, peintier, pingō