discolour
/dɪsˈkʌlə
/(US discolor)
verb
Change or cause to change to a different, less attractive colour: [no object]: do not over-knead the dough or it will discolour [with object]: too much aluminium can discolour water...
- This dentine is darker than enamel, so teeth appear stained and discoloured.
- As a nation of tea and coffee drinkers, our teeth take a battering and frequently end up stained or discoloured.
- Aged vinegar acquires an increasingly brown colour as enzymes discolour compounds from the original fruit.
Synonyms
stain, mark, soil, dirty, make dirty, streak, smear, spot, tarnish, sully, spoil, mar, disfigure, blemish;
blacken, char;
fade, bleach, wash out;
rust, weather
stained, marked, spotted, dirty, soiled, tarnished, blackened;
bleached, faded, yellowed;
rusted, rusty, oxidized, weathered
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French descolorer or medieval Latin discolorare, from des-, dis- (expressing reversal) + Latin colorare 'to colour'.