varnish

English

Etymology

From Middle English vernisch, from Old French vernis, from Medieval Latin vernix, veronix, from Byzantine Greek Βερενίκη (Bereníkē, “Berenice”), a town in Cyrenaica.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

varnish (countable and uncountable, plural varnishes)

1. A type of paint with a solvent that evaporates to leave a hard, transparent, glossy film.
2. Anything resembling such a paint; glossy appearance.
   • (Can we date this quote by Macaulay and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     the varnish of the holly and ivy

3. (by extension) A deceptively showy appearance.
   • (Can we date this quote by Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     And set a double varnish on the fame / The Frenchman gave you.

4. (rail transport, US, informal, dated) a passenger train, probably derived from the varnished passenger cars used at one time.
   • 1959, "Steam's Finest Hour" edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co.

     Every transcontinental but two settled on the simple articulated for freight service, and all of them coupled their varnish to the 4-8-4.

Related terms

• desert varnish
• nail varnish
• rock varnish
• varnishless
• varnishlike
• varnish tree
• varnishy

 

Translations

transparent paint

• Albanian: llak (sq) m
• Arabic: وَرْنِيش m (warnīš)
• Armenian: լաք (hy) (lakʻ)
• Azerbaijani: lak
• Belarusian: лак m (lak)
• Bengali: বার্নিশ (barniś)
• Bulgarian: лак (bg) m (lak)
• Burmese: ဗားနစ် (my) (ba:nac)
• Catalan: vernís (ca) m
• Central Melanau: berenih
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 清漆 (qīngqī), 漆 (zh) (qī)

• Czech: lak (cs) m
• Danish: fernis c, lak c or n
• Estonian: lakk
• Finnish: lakka (fi), vernissa (fi)
• French: vernis (fr) m
• Georgian: ლაკი (laḳi)
• German: Lack (de) m, Firnis (de) m
• Hindi: वार्निश (hi) m (vārniś)
• Hungarian: lakk (hu), politúr (hu), fénymáz
• Irish: vearnais f
• Italian: copale m, vernice (it) f, verniciatura (it) f, lacca (it) f
• Japanese: ワニス (ja) (wanisu), ニス (ja) (nisu), 仮漆 (かしつ, kashitsu)
• Kazakh: лак (lak)
• Korean: 니스 (niseu), 옻 (ot), 바니시 (banisi)
• Kyrgyz: лак (ky) (lak)
• Latvian: laka f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Lithuanian: lakas m
• Malay: varnis
• Manx: lossanagh m, varnish f
• Maori: wānihi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ferniss (no) m, lakk (no) m

  Nynorsk: ferniss m, lakk m

• Persian: ورنی (fa) (verni)
• Polish: lakier (pl) m
• Portuguese: verniz (pt) m
• Romanian: vernis (ro) n, lac (ro) n
• Russian: лак (ru) m (lak)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ла̏к m

  Roman: lȁk (sh) m

• Slovak: lak m
• Slovene: lak (sl) m
• Spanish: barniz (es) m
• Swedish: lack (sv) c
• Tagalog: barnis, alyamas
• Tajik: лак (lak)
• Thai: น้ำมันชักเงา
• Turkish: vernik (tr)
• Turkmen: lak
• Ukrainian: лак m (lak)
• Uzbek: lak (uz)
• Vietnamese: sơn (vi), véc ni
• Welsh: farnis m, farnais m

anything resembling such a paint

• Danish: fernis c, lak c or n
• Finnish: lakka (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Firnis (de) m
• Hungarian: kence (hu)
• Slovak: lesk

a deceptively showy appearance

• Danish: fernis c
• Finnish: pintakiilto
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: máz (hu)
• Portuguese: verniz (pt) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} vernis (nl) m, ^{(please verify)} lak (nl) m
• French: ^{(please verify)} vernis (fr)
• German: (1) ^{(please verify)} Lack (de) m, ^{(please verify)} Firnis (de) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} vernice (it)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} barniz (es)

Verb

1. (intransitive) To apply varnish.
2. (transitive) To cover up with varnish.
3. (transitive) To gloss over a defect.

Derived terms

• revarnish
• varnishable
• varnisher
• varnishment

 

Translations

to apply varnish

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 塗漆／涂漆 (zh) (túqī), 涂漆 (zh) (túqí)

• Finnish: lakata (fi)
• French: vernir (fr)
• Georgian: ლაქის წასმა (lakis c̣asma), ლაკირება (laḳireba)
• German: lackieren (de), firnissen (de)
• Hungarian: lakkoz (hu), politúroz, fényez (hu)
• Japanese: 塗る (ja) (ぬる, nuru)
• Maori: wānihi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norman: vèrni
• Polish: lakierować (pl)
• Portuguese: envernizar
• Russian: лакирова́ть (ru) impf (lakirovátʹ)
• Slovak: lakovať
• Spanish: barnizar (es), lacar (es)
• Swedish: lacka (sv)
• Turkish: verniklemek (tr)

to cover up with varnish

• Finnish: lakata (fi)
• Georgian: ლაკირება (laḳireba)
• Hungarian: lakkoz (hu), politúroz, fényez (hu)
• Polish: lakierować (pl)
• Portuguese: envernizar
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: лакирова́ть (ru) impf (lakirovátʹ), покрыва́ть ла́ком impf (pokryvátʹ lákom)
• Slovak: nalakovať, zalakovať
• Spanish: barnizar (es), lacar (es)
• Swedish: lacka (sv)

to gloss over a defect

• Georgian: შენიღბვა (šeniɣbva), შელამაზება (šelamazeba), დაფარვა (daparva)
• Hungarian: szépítget (hu), takargat, kozmetikáz
• Portuguese: envernizar
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: прикра́шивать (ru) impf (prikrášivatʹ)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} vernissen (nl), ^{(please verify)} lakken (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• Harvins, hrivnas

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Manx

Etymology

Borrowed from English varnish.

Noun

varnish f (genitive singular varnish, plural varnishyn)

1. varnish

Synonyms

• lossanagh

Derived terms

• varnish ingney (“nail varnish”)