What does distempering mean?
"Distempering" is the present participle and gerund of the verb "distemper." In its surviving practical sense it means coating a surface — typically an interior wall or ceiling — with distemper, a traditional water-based paint whose pigment is bound with glue or size rather than oil. Because distemper gives a soft, matte, chalk-like finish, distempering is associated with historic interiors and conservation work, and the term appears more often in British English than American. The word carries a second, largely archaic sense inherited from earlier centuries: to disturb, disorder, or make unwell, whether the mind, the temper, or the body — readers may meet it in this sense in Shakespeare or other early modern writers. All these meanings trace back to Latin temperare, "to mix in due proportion," via Old French destemprer: the paint must be properly mixed, and a person improperly "mixed" falls into distemper. Today the word sounds formal or technical, useful mainly in discussions of traditional building craft.
Present participle of "distemper": to coat a surface with distemper, a water-based paint bound with glue or size.
"They spent the week distempering the chapel's newly plastered vaulting."
Chiefly British; common in conservation and heritage-painting contexts.
Archaic or literary: disturbing or disordering something, especially the mind, temper, or health.
"Nothing so distempered his judgement as flattery offered too early in the morning."
Rare today; encountered mainly in early modern literature and historical writing.
The action or process of applying distemper paint to a surface.
"Careful distempering preserved the soft matte character of the original eighteenth-century interior."
One little word, three strange lives: "distemper" names a deadly dog virus, a chalky wall paint, and — if you read Shakespeare — a troubled state of mind, all from the same Latin root meaning to mix properly.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of distempering
"Distempering" derives from the verb "distemper," which entered Middle English from Old French destemprer, itself from Latin dis- plus temperare, "to mix thoroughly or moderate." From the notion of mixing came two branches of meaning: blending pigment with a water-and-glue medium to make distemper paint, and an imbalance of the body's or mind's proper mixture, hence the older senses of illness, disorder, and disturbed temper. Cognates sharing the Latin root temperare include temperature, temperament, temperance, and intemperate, all built on the idea of proportion or moderation.
Related word forms
How distempering is actually used
In modern usage "distempering" almost always refers to the painting process, and even that is now chiefly British and associated with traditional or heritage decoration; the sense of mentally or physically unsettling someone survives mainly in literary or historical prose.
Easily confused with distempering
"Distemper" is the base word, naming either a viral animal disease (especially canine distemper) or the water-based paint itself, whereas "distempering" is the ongoing action of applying that paint or, archaically, of unsettling someone.