Meanings
plural taintures
- obsoleteDirtiness; uncleanliness; contamination, tainting.
Gloster, ſee here the Taincture of thy Neſt, And looke thy ſelfe be faultleſſe, thou wert beſt.
1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 127, column 22 more examples
Dem[etrius]. Now Princes, your demands? Sel[eucus]. Peace, if it may bee Without the too much tainture of our honour: […]
1619, John Fletcher, “The Humorous Lieutenant”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene vi, page 135, column 1But, woe is me, other creatures are fraile too, none but man is sinfull; our soule is not more excellent, than this tainture of it, is odious, and deadly […]
1637, Joseph Hall, The Remedy of Prophanenesse, or, Of the True Sight and Feare of the Almighty, London: Nathanael Butter, Book 1, Section 11, p. 83
Origin
- Middle Frenchtainture“dye; dyeing; tincture”
- Englishtainture
Perhaps taint + -ure; perhaps from Middle French tainture (“dye; dyeing; tincture”). Doublet of teinture, tinctura, and tincture.
More words from Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
tainture. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tainture
“tainture.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tainture. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tainture,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tainture.
Source: tainture on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.