A tinge is a slight amount of something, especially a faint color. If you wear SPF30 to the beach, you'll only come home with a tinge of tan.
If a painting has just a tiny hint of orange, then it was a tinge of orange. And you could say the painter tinged the picture with orange hues. Outside of paint colors, a tinge can mean a small amount of just about anything. Sometimes you hear about someone speaking with a tinge of sadness. That means there's just a little bit sadness showing in their words. A tinge will never bowl you over — it's always small and subtle.
