bistre

B3I1S1T1R1E1
UK/ˈbɪstə(ɹ)/US/ˈbɪstɚ/

noun

A brown pigment made from soot, especially from beech wood.

Similar
bister
OriginFrench bistre →
Scrabble 8
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Meanings

nounbistre (countable and uncountable, plural bistres)

plural bistres · alternative bister

  1. countableuncountableA brown pigment made from soot, especially from beech wood.
  2. countableuncountableA mid-to-dark brown color resembling the pigment.

    [O]h! what an object he was! The rings round his eyes were of the colour of bistre […]

    1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 46, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna water-soluble brownish-yellow pigment made by boiling wood soot

Similar
bister
Broader
pigment

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Frenchbistre
  2. Frenchbistre
  3. Englishbistre

Borrowed from French bistre.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Polish bistr, bistrowy
  • bistrbrown pigment
  • bistrowymid-to-dark brown
Swedish bister
  • bisterbrown pigment

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with bistre

sistermistertransistorresistortwisterblisterBicesterthermistorthyristorvaristormixtercisterclystersister from another misterxyster
All rhymes →

Anagrams

Sibertbestir
Cite this entry
APA

bistre. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bistre

MLA

“bistre.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bistre. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bistre,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bistre.

Source: bistre on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.