NYT Dictionary

PENTIMENTO

/ˌpɛntəˈmɛntoʊ/
Nounpen-ti-MEN-topen-ti-men-to · 4 syllablesAdvanced/Professional

Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2022

Meaning

The presence of traces of a previous work in an artistic or literary work; especially (painting) an image which has been painted over but is still detectable.

Etymology

Origin: Latin

[Alt: A blue-tinted painting of a man's bent neck, with a faint image of a woman's face in its background] Learned borrowing from Italian pentimento (“repentance, penance, penitence; remorse; change of opinion; correction; traces of a previous image or work in an artwork”), from pentìrsi (“to repent; to regret”) + -mento (suffix forming nouns representing the actions of verbs to which it is attached). Pentìrsi is derived from Latin paenitēre, the present active infinitive of paeniteō (“to cause to repent; to repent; to be sorry, regret”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (“to hate; to hurt”).

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

pentiment

NYT Puzzle Appearances

No published puzzle dates on file for this word yet. It is part of the official NYT Spelling Bee word list for 2022.

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