From Middle English steinen, steynen, of gmq origin, from Old Norse steina, from steinn, from gmq-pro ᛊᛏᚨᛁᚾᚨᛉ, from Proto-Germanic *stainaz, from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂-.

Replaced native Middle English wem (“spot, blemish, stain”) from Old English wem (“spot, stain”).

In some senses, influenced by unrelated Middle English disteynen (“to discolor, remove the colour from"; literally, "de-colour”), from Anglo-Norman desteindre (“to remove the colour from, bleach”), from Old French destaindre (“to remove the color from, bleach”), from des- ("dis-, de-, un-") + teindre ("to dye"), from Latin tingo.

• IPA: /steɪn/

stain (plural stains)

1. A discolored spot or area caused by spillage or other contact with certain fluids or substances.
2. A blemish on one's character or reputation.
3. A substance used to soak into a surface and colour it.
4. A reagent or dye used to stain microscope specimens so as to make some structures visible.
5. (heraldry) One of a number of non-standard tinctures used chiefly in post-medieval heraldry, especially tenné, murrey, or sanguine.

• French: tache
• German: Fleck
• Italian: macchia, chiazza, patacca (figuratively)
• Portuguese: nódoa, mancha, mácula
• Russian: пятно́
• Spanish: mancha, lamparón (colloquial; on clothing - esp. from sweat or grease), rodal, mácula

• French: souillure
• German: Schandfleck
• Russian: пятно́
• Spanish: tacha, mancilla

• French: colorant
• Italian: tinta, mordente
• Portuguese: colorante, tinta
• Russian: кра́ска
• Spanish: colorante

• Spanish: contraste

stain (stains, present participle staining; simple past and past participle stained)

1. (transitive) To discolor, as by spilling or other contact with a fluid or substance.

   to stain the hand with dye

   armour stained with blood

2. To taint or tarnish someone's character or reputation
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC ↗:

     of Honour void,
     Of Innocence, of Faith, of Puritie,
     Our wonted Ornaments now soild and staind

3. To coat a surface with a stain

   to stain wood with acids, coloured washes, paint rubbed in, etc.

   the stained glass used for church windows

4. (intransitive) To become stained; to take a stain.
5. (transitive, cytology, histology) To treat (a microscopic specimen) with a dye, especially one that dyes specific features
6. To cause to seem inferior or soiled by comparison.
   • c. 1607–1611, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Cupid's Revenge”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC ↗, Act II, scene ii:

     She stains the ripest virgins of her age.

   • 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], Daphnaïda. An Elegy upon the Death of the Noble and Vertuous Douglas Howard,Daughter and Heire of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Byndon, and Wife of Arthure Gorges Esquier. […], London: […] [Thomas Orwin] for William Ponsonby, […], →OCLC ↗:

     that did all other beasts in beauty stain

• French: tacher
• Russian: па́чкать
• Spanish: manchar

• French: entacher
• German: beflecken
• Italian: macchiare, intaccare
• Russian: запятнать
• Spanish: mancillar

• German: beizen
• Italian: mordenzare
• Russian: кра́сить

• French: colorer
• Italian: colorare
• Portuguese: corar, colorar, colorir
• Spanish: colorear