neutral-staining
|neu-tral-stain-ing|
🇺🇸
/ˈnuːtrəlˌsteɪnɪŋ/
🇬🇧
/ˈnjuːtrəlˌsteɪnɪŋ/
not showing acid or base staining preference
Etymology
'neutral-staining' is a compound of 'neutral' and the present participle 'staining'. 'Neutral' originates from Late Latin 'neutralis' (from Latin 'neuter') meaning 'neither', and 'staining' comes from the verb 'stain' (from older English terms for marking or colouring).
'neutral' passed into English via Middle French/Late Latin usage and retained the sense 'neither of two', while 'stain' developed in Middle English with meanings related to marking or colouring; the compound 'neutral-staining' arose in modern medical and biological English to describe staining behaviour in histology and microbiology.
Initially, 'neutral' meant 'neither (of two)', and 'stain' meant 'to mark or colour'; combined in scientific usage the term came to mean 'showing neither acidic nor basic staining preference' in modern histological contexts.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
describing cells, tissues, microorganisms, or structures that do not show a marked affinity for either acidic or basic dyes in staining procedures; appearing without preferential acid or base staining.
The biopsy contained several neutral-staining cells that required further immunohistochemical tests for identification.
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Adjective 2
in microbiology or pathology usage, indicating that a structure takes up neutral dyes (or shows staining characteristics described as 'neutral') rather than distinctly acidic or basic dyes.
Certain fungal elements may appear neutral-staining under the light microscope.
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Last updated: 2025/11/28 11:36