Aquatint is a way of making a print. The artist starts with a metal plate, often copper, and lays a fine dust of resin on it. Acid then bites into the metal around those tiny specks and leaves a grain, so the printed picture can show soft areas of tone — pale grey through to dark — not only sharp lines. That is why the finished print can look a little like a wash of ink or watercolour, even though it is printed from metal. The same word also names the picture you get this way: “an aquatint by Goya.” It is an art-school and museum word, not everyday talk. Though actually, artists often mix it with ordinary etching: lines for the drawing, aquatint for the shadows. You do not use it for a painting done with water.

飛塵腐蝕（法）；也指用此法印出的版畫。美術課上常直接說 aquatint。