ointment

English

Alternative forms

• oyntment (obsolete)

Etymology

A later form (as if oint +‎ -ment) of Middle English oinement, borrowed from Old French oignement (“an anointing”), from oigner, oindre, ongier (“to anoint”), from Latin ung(u)ō (“I anoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷ- (“to smear, anoint”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɪntm(ə)nt/, [ˈɔ̃ɪ̃(n)ʔ.mɪ̃(n)ʔ]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɪn(t)m(ə)nt/
• Hyphenation: oint‧ment

Noun

ointment (plural ointments)

1. (medicine) A viscous preparation of oils and/or fats, usually containing medication, used as a treatment or as an emollient.
2. A substance used to anoint, as in religious rituals.

Synonyms

• salve
• unguent

Derived terms

• fly in the ointment
• ointmentlike

Related terms

► English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃engʷ-‎ (0 c, 8 e)

Translations

viscous preparation, usually containing medication

• Afrikaans: salf
• Albanian: pomadë (sq) f
• Arabic: مَرْهَم‎ m (marham), دَهُون‎ m (dahūn)
• Armenian: քսուք (hy) (kʿsukʿ)
• Azerbaijani: maz (az), məlhəm
• Belarusian: мазь f (mazʹ), бальза́м m (balʹzám) (balm)
• Bengali: মলম (môlôm)
• Bulgarian: мехле́м (bg) m (mehlém), мас (bg) f (mas), мазило (bg) n (mazilo)
• Burmese: လိမ်းဆေး (my) (lim:hce:)
• Catalan: pomada (ca) f, ungüent m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 藥膏, 药膏 (joek⁶ gou¹)

  Mandarin: 軟膏 (zh), 软膏 (zh) (ruǎngāo), 膏 (zh) (gāo), 藥膏 (zh), 药膏 (zh) (yàogāo)

• Czech: mast (cs) f
• Danish: salve (da) n
• Dutch: zalf (nl) m or f, smeersel (nl) n
• Egyptian: (wrḥ m), (mḏt f)
• Esperanto: ungvento
• Estonian: salv
• Faroese: salva f, sálva f
• Finnish: voide (fi)
• French: pommade (fr) f, onguent (fr) m
• Friulian: ongint m
• Galician: pomada (gl) f, ungüento m, bálsamo m
• Georgian: მალამო (malamo)
• German: Salbe (de) f, Balsam (de) m
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍉𐌽𐍃 f (salbōns)
• Greek: αλοιφή (el) f (aloifí)

  Ancient: ἀλοιφή f (aloiphḗ), ἄλειφαρ n (áleiphar)

  Mycenaean: 𐀀𐀩𐀞 (a-re-pa), 𐂘 (𐂘)

• Haitian Creole: ponmad
• Hebrew: מִשְׁחָה‎ (he) (mishkha)
• Hindi: मरहम (hi) m (marham), मलहम (hi) m (malham), बाम (hi) m (bām), लेप (hi) m (lep), औषधि f (auṣdhi)
• Hungarian: kenőcs (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Indonesian: salap (id)
• Irish: ungadh m
• Italian: pomata (it) f, unguento (it) m, balsamo (it) m
• Japanese: 軟膏 (なんこう, nankō)
• Kazakh: май (may)
• Khmer: ថ្នាំលាប (thnam liəp)

• Korean: 연고 (yeon-go)
• Kyrgyz: май (ky) (may), мазь (mazʹ)
• Lao: ຢານວດ (yā nūat), ຢາຂີ້ເຜີ້ງ (yā khī phœ̄ng)
• Latin: unguentum n
• Latvian: ziede f
• Lithuanian: tepalas f
• Macedonian: маст f (mast), пома́да f (pomáda), мелем m (melem)
• Malay: salap
• Maori: rongoā pani, panipani, pūreke
• Mongolian: тос (mn) (tos)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: salve (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: salve m or f

• Pashto: ملهم‎ m (malám)
• Persian: پماد‎ (fa) (pomâd), مرهم‎ (fa) (marham)
• Plautdietsch: Saulw f
• Polish: maść (pl) f
• Portuguese: pomada (pt) f
• Romanian: unguent (ro) n, pomadă (ro) f, alifie (ro) f
• Russian: мазь (ru) f (mazʹ), бальза́м (ru) m (balʹzám) (balm)
• Sanskrit: अञ्जस् (sa) n (añjas), लेप (sa) m (lepa)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мелем m, маст f

  Roman: melem (sh) m, mast (sh) f

• Slovak: masť f
• Slovene: mazilo (sl) n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: žałba f

• Spanish: pomada f, ungüento (es) m
• Swahili: marhamu
• Swedish: salva (sv) c
• Tagalog: hinas, banlos
• Tajik: маз (maz), марҳам (marham), тило (tilo)
• Telugu: లేపనము (te) (lēpanamu)
• Thai: ครีม (th) (kriim), ยาขี้ผึ้ง
• Tocharian B: laupe, ṣalype
• Turkish: merhem (tr)
• Turkmen: melhem
• Ukrainian: мазь f (mazʹ), бальза́м (uk) m (balʹzám) (balm)
• Urdu: مرہم‎ m (marham)
• Uyghur: ماي‎ (may), مەلھەم‎ (melhem)
• Uzbek: malham dori, maz, balzam (uz)
• Vietnamese: bom mát
• Volapük: nugvet (vo)
• Walloon: ôlmint (wa) m (liquid), poumåde f (solid)
• Welsh: eli (cy) m

See also

• cream
• inunction
• liniment
• unction
• unctuous
• unguent

Further reading

• ointment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• ointment in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• ointment at OneLook Dictionary Search