unguent

English

WOTD – 25 June 2006    

Etymology

From Latin unguentum (“ointment”), from unguō (“smear with ointment”), from Proto-Indo-European *ongw- (“to salve”).

Cognates include Old Prussian anctan, Old High German ancho, German anke (“butter”), Welsh ymenyn (“butter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈʌŋɡwənt/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

unguent (plural unguents)

1. any cream containing medicinal ingredients applied to the skin for therapeutic purposes
   • 1809-1812 — William Combe, Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque

     "Alas!" said Syntax, "could I pop / Just now, upon a blacksmith's shop, / Whose cooling unguents would avail / To save poor Grizzle's ears and tail!"

   • 1853 — Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece

     So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to apply the perfumed unguent which it contained, and where to meet her at midnight.

   • 1890 — Arthur Conan Doyle, A Literary Mosaic

     Thou knowest of old that my temper is somewhat choleric, and my tongue not greased with that unguent which oils the mouths of the lip-serving lords of the land.

Translations

cream applied to the skin for a therapeutic purpose

• Dutch: zalf (nl) m and f
• Finnish: voide (fi)
• French: onguent (fr) m
• German: Salbe (de) f

• Macedonian: маст (mk) (mást) f
• Polish: maść (pl) f
• Volapük: nugvet (vo)

See also

• medicine
• ointment

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Latin

Verb

unguent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of unguō