ink

Ink comes from Middle English ynke, borrowed from Old French enque, from Latin encaustum, the purple ink Roman emperors used to sign official documents. That Latin word traces back to Greek énkauston, meaning "burned-in," from en ("in") plus kaíō ("burn").

The word displaced the native Old English term blæc, which literally meant "black" — English swapped its homegrown word for the borrowed one tied to imperial signatures. Today the same word covers everything from a fountain pen's contents to the ink that runs through a newspaper press.