To paint means to cover a surface with color using a brush, roller, or other tool. When you paint a room, you apply liquid color to the walls to change how they look. Artists paint pictures on canvas, creating images with brushstrokes of different colors. Your parents might paint the fence white or paint the front door a cheerful red.

Paint is also the colored liquid itself. You dip your brush into the paint and then spread it where you want it to go. Different types of paint exist for different purposes: watercolor paint for delicate art, acrylic paint that dries quickly, or house paint designed to protect walls and wood from weather and wear.

The word appears in several expressions too. When you paint a picture of something with your words, you describe it so vividly that others can almost see it in their minds. A teacher might paint a picture of life in ancient Rome through detailed storytelling. If someone paints themselves into a corner, they've created a problem for themselves through their own choices, like making up one lie that forces them to tell more lies to cover it up. And when something isn't as simple as it seems, you might say there's more to the story than what appears on the surface, almost like layers of paint hiding what's underneath.