Today's Word "attaint"
Published in Vocabulary
attaint \eh-TEYNT\ (verb) - To disgrace, sully, or taint something or someone's reputation. Originally, the act of attainting meant conviction of a crime but later it was used to refer to conviction by legislation without benefit of trial.
"After what he'd seen in the past few administrations, Bill felt that nothing could be said that would attaint the reputation of the president."
Old French "ataint" past participle of ataindre "to affect, convict." Originally, "attaint" was the past tense of "attain" but subsequently became a word unto itself used only the negative sense. "Taint" is an aphetic (dropping an initial vowel) form of "attaint" in its new sense. Originally, the past participle of Latin attingere "touch upon, attack" from ad- "to" + tangere "to touch" from the nasalized form of *tag- "touch" which also underlies "tangible," "tangent" and, without [n], "tax," as when the government 'touches' you for a few bucks. "Contaminate" is from Latin contaminare: con- "together" + tag-men- (suffixed form of *tag-) "contact" + are.
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