English → Latin
“paint” in Latin
pingōto decorate, adorn, embellish; to paint, tint or colour; to portraydēpingōto depict, to paint, to portray, to represent by painting; to paint, to colourfigūrōto form, fashion, shapefūcōto colour, paint, dye; to embellish, dissemble, falsifypīgmentumA material for coloring; color, paint, pigment, dye.; Ornament, coloring.colōto cultivate the land, till, tend, take care of a field or garden; to inhabit; to frequent, be the guardian of, cherish,fūcusseaweed; orchil, orchella weed, Roccella tinctoria; red dye derived from it; (in general) dyestuff; rougesubigōto bring or get (under); to plough or cultivate; to sharpen or whetmisceōto mix; to mingle; to intermingle; to unite; to combine; to share; to associate; of a disturbance of the natural order, temperōto divide duly, qualify, temper, moderate; to combine, compound or blend properly; to rule, regulate, govern, manage, ar
The English word paint itself goes back to Latin pingō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
paint v.
TRANS., (1) PROP. (a) To represent by colors, with delineation, pingere; depingere; coloribus reddere. To paint figures, coloribus figuras depingere: to paint a face, effingere oris lineamenta: to paint a thing after an original, similitudinem ex vero effingere. (b) To lay on colors, colorare aliquid; colores inducere alicui rei; fucare; infucare; pigmentis illinere: to paint white, albos colores alicui rei inducere; cerussa illinere or oblinere (with white-lead): to paint a house, aedificium expolire (Vitr.): painted boards, tabulae colore fucatae (Tac.): to paint one’s self (one’s face), colorem fuco mentiri; fucare colorem.
(2) (2) Figuratively, pingere; depingere; ante oculos ponere alicui aliquid: painted, fucatus, infucatus: to paint in vivid or lively colors, lectis verborum coloribus depingere aliquid (after Gell., 14, 4, 1): to paint anybody in his true colors, alicujus naturam certis describere signis; perhaps *alicujus vivam or vividam imaginem exprimere; alicujus vitia (or vitia et virtutes, as the case may be) deformare (Rutilius, Lupus); imaginem consuetudinis atque vitae alicujus exprimere.
INTRANS., pingere.
paint
PROP., pigmentum (the proper word); also, color, fucus (PROP. and figuratively). To mix or prepare paint, *pigmenta temperare, subigere, miscere: prepared paints, qui arte fiunt, qui mixtione, temperatura, perficiuntur (Vitr.): to put on four coats of paint, quater inducere colorem picturae: the blood of the crocodile is used as a paint, crocodili sanguine pictores utuntur.
Figuratively, color; pigmenta, plur.; fucus: truth without paint, veritas nuda et simplex.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for paint?
- The usual Latin words for “paint” are pingō, dēpingō, figūrō; also fūcō, pīgmentum, colō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.