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”). Partly displaced native Old English sealf, whence modern salve.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɪntm(ə)nt/, [ˈɔ̃ɪ̃(n)ʔ.mɪ̃(n)ʔ]

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɪn(t)m(ə)nt/
• Hyphenation: oint‧ment

Noun

ointment (countable and uncountable, 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

• (medicine): salve, unguent; pomatum (uncommon); pomade, pomate (obsolete or historical)

Derived terms

• blue ointment
• citrine ointment
• fly in the ointment
• ointmentlike
• Whitfield's ointment

 

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *h₃engʷ-‎ (0 c, 9 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 (bn) (molom)
• Bulgarian: мехле́м (bg) m (mehlém), мас (bg) f (mas), мази́ло (bg) n (mazílo)
• Burmese: လိမ်းဆေး (my) (lim:hce:)
• Catalan: pomada (ca) f, ungüent m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 藥膏／药膏 (joek⁶ gou¹)

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

• Czech: mast (cs) f
• Danish: salve (da) c
• 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

• Haitian Creole: ponmad
• Hebrew: מִשְׁחָה‎ (he) f (mishkhá)
• Hindi: मरहम (hi) m (marham), मलहम (hi) m (malham), बाम (hi) m (bām), लेप (hi) m (lep), औषधि f (auṣdhi)
• Hungarian: kenőcs (hu)
• Icelandic: smyrsl n
• Indonesian: salap (id)
• Ingrian: voije, maazi
• Irish: ungadh m
• Italian: pomata (it) f, unguento (it) m, balsamo (it) m
• Japanese: 軟膏 (ja) (なんこう, nankō)
• Kazakh: май (mai)
• Khmer: ថ្នាំលាប (thnam liəp)
• Korean: 연고(軟膏) (yeon'go)
• Kyrgyz: май (ky) (may), мазь (mazʹ)
• Lao: ຢານວດ (yā nūat), ຢາຂີ້ເຜີ້ງ (yā khī phœ̄ng), ຂີ້ເຜີ້ງ (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, pūreke, panikiri
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тос (mn) (tos)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: salve (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: salve m or f

• Old English: sealf f
• Pashto: ملهم‎ m (malham), ملم‎ m (malam)
• Persian: پُماد‎ (fa) (pomâd), مَرهَم‎ (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: мѐлем m, ма̑ст f

  Roman: mèlem (sh) m, mȃst (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 (yaa-kîi-pʉ̂ng), ขี้ผึ้ง (th) (kîi-pʉ̂ng)
• Tocharian B: laupe, ṣalype
• Turkish: merhem (tr)
• Turkmen: melhem
• Ukrainian: мазь f (mazʹ), бальза́м (uk) m (balʹzám) (balm)
• Urdu: مَرہَم‎ m (marham)
• Uyghur: ماي‎ (may), مەلھەم‎ (melhem)
• Uzbek: malham dori, maz, balzam (uz)
• Vietnamese: pom-mát, thuốc mỡ (vi), thuốc cao (vi)
• 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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “ointment”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “ointment”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.