Etymograph

English

tinge

Tinge comes from Latin tingō ‘to dip’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *teng-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-‘to soak, dip, make wet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tengōreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtingō‘to dip’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtingerepresent active infinitive of tingō
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1658tinge

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teng-‘to soak, dip, make wet’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tengōreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtingō‘to dip’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtingerepresent active infinitive of tingō
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1658tinge

Earliest quotation: 1658, Felix Würtz, Slaves: “[T]he water being ting'd red, cant it off, iterate…”

The story

The noun is derived from the verb.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *teng- ‘to soak, dip, make wet’

think, thought, thank, dunk, 21 more

through Latin tingō ‘to dip’

tent, tincture, 7 more

Today it means

noun A small added amount of colour; (by extension) a small added amount of some other thing.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *teng- / tinge

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