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Nov 11, 2004

This week's theme
What does that car name mean?

This week's words
prelude
caprice
protege
pinto
tercel

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pinto

pinto (PIN-to) adjective

Marked with patches of white and another color.

noun

1. Pinto horse: a horse having patches of white and another color.

2. Pinto bean: a variety of kidney beans having mottled seed.

[From American Spanish pinto (spotted), from obsolete Spanish, from Vulgar Latin pinctus (painted), past participle of pingere (to paint). Ultimately from Indo-European root peig- (to cut, mark) that's the source of such words as paint, depict, picture, pigment, pint, and pimento.]

Here are two other words to describe horses and other animals:

piebald: spotted in black and white.
skewbald: marked with patches of white and another color, but not black.

See more usage examples of pinto in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

"A black-faced, pinto-colored horse, Panda made her Central Massachusetts debut as a guide animal Saturday at the National Education for Assistance Dog Services campus."
Mary Anne Magiera; Miniature Horses Make Fine Guides; Telegram & Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts); Jun 11, 2002.

"Add some extra veggies to some pinto or black beans and they are pretty good."
Edmund Tijerina; Canary Island Wine is Coming This Way; San Antonio Express News (Texas); Oct 12, 2004.

Today's word is the name of a now-discontinued car from Ford. For its safety problems and the manufacturer's negligence, Pinto has become a symbol for all such products.

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