• IPA: /teɪnt/

From Middle French teint, from Old French teint (past participle of teindre ("to dye, to tinge")), from Latin tinctum (past participle of tingere); compare tint.

taint (plural taints)

1. A contamination, decay or putrefaction, especially in food.
2. A tinge, trace or touch.
   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC ↗, part I, page 216 ↗:

     There is a taint of death, a flavour of mortality in lies, - which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world - what I want to forget.

3. A mark of disgrace, especially on one's character; blemish.
4. (obsolete) Tincture; hue; colour.
5. (obsolete) Infection; corruption; deprivation.
   • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC ↗:

     A prison taint was on everything there. The imprisoned air, the imprisoned light, the imprisoned damps, the imprisoned men, were all deteriorated by confinement.

   • 1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC ↗:

     He had inherited from his ancestors a scrofulous taint, which it was beyond the power of medicine to remove.

6. (programming) A marker indicating that a variable is unsafe and should be subjected to additional security checks.
   • 2006, Jim Chow, Stanford University. Computer Science Dept, Understanding data lifetime (page 33)

     Using Apache version 1.3.29 and Perl version 5.8.2, we tracked the following sequence of taints […]

• French: contamination, moisissure, souillure
• Spanish: corrupción, impureza

• French: tache, souillure

taint (taints, present participle tainting; simple past and past participle tainted)

1. (transitive) To contaminate or corrupt (something) with an external agent, either physically or morally.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     His unkindness may defeat my life, / But never taint my love.

2. (transitive) To spoil (food) by contamination.
3. (intransitive) To be infected or corrupted; to be touched by something corrupting.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act V, scene iii]:

     I cannot taint with fear.

4. (intransitive) To be affected with incipient putrefaction.

   Meat soon taints in warm weather.

5. (transitive, computing, programming) To mark (a variable) as unsafe, so that operations involving it are subject to additional security checks.
6. (transitive, AU, finance) To invalidate (a share capital account) by transferring profits into it.

• (to contaminate) leper (rare)

• tainture

• German: verderben
• Italian: contaminare, infettare, macchiare
• Portuguese: contaminar, corromper, infectar, macular
• Spanish: contaminar, corromper

• German: verderben
• Italian: guastare

From Middle English taynt, aphetic form of attaynt, atteynt, from Old French atteinte.

taint (plural taints)

1. A thrust with a lance, which fails of its intended effect.
2. An injury done to a lance in an encounter, without its being broken; also, a breaking of a lance in an encounter in a dishonorable or unscientific manner.

taint (taints, present participle tainting; simple past and past participle tainted)

1. (transitive) To damage, as a lance, without breaking it; also, to break, as a lance, but usually in an unknightly or unscientific manner.
   • 1624 November 3 (first performance), Philip Massinger, “The Parliament of Love”, in W[illiam] Gifford, editor, The Plays of Philip Massinger, […], volume II, London: […] G[eorge] and W[illiam] Nicol; […] by W[illiam] Bulmer and Co. […], published 1805, →OCLC ↗, Act IV, scene iii, page 293 ↗:

     Do not fear; I have / A staff to taint, and bravely.

2. (intransitive) To thrust ineffectually with a lance.

Reportedly from the phrase “'tain't your balls and 'tain't your ass”.

taint (plural taints)

1. (US, vulgar, slang) The perineum.
   • 2017, John Oliver, Last Week Tonight, HBO:

     Thats right, Alex Jones is trying to sell you sloppy wet rags for your tait [sic]. And-- and when you are done wiping down the area between your genitals and anus with a glorified wet nap...
     And look-- look, this tactical taint wipe has demonstrated incredible results, hasn't it, Doctor?

• Spanish: nies, frontón, sartén