enamel

Etymology

The verb, the older of the two parts of speech, is inherited from Middle English enamelen, also enamailen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman enamailler, also enameler,^[5][6][3][7] formed from en- (“in, on”) and amail (“enamel”);^{[5][8][9][10]} the MED instead takes it from the past participle Old French enamelé.^[2] The Anglo-Norman noun is a variant of esmaille and of Old French esmal, esmail, modern French émail.^[5][11][4] According to Ayto, Old French took over the Germanic word as esmauz and re-formed it as esmail,^[10] which Hoad calls a new formation on the nominative esmauz.^[11] The source is Frankish *smalt,^[3][6] which Etymonline traces to Proto-Germanic *smaltjan (“to smelt”),^[6] and which is related to smelt and melt.^{[6][10][11][12]} It is akin to Old High German smelzan (“to melt”)^[4][12] and smalz (“melted fat”), whence German Schmalz (“fat, dripping”), the source of schmaltz.^[11][10][13] The same Germanic word gave Italian smalto, Spanish esmalte and Portuguese esmalte.^[5][14] The noun is from the verb, first as "a means of enamelling";^[5][3][6] it replaced amel, borrowed directly from Anglo-Norman, which was used from about 1330 and died out in the 18th century.^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To ornament or encrust a metal object with enamel: 1392, in a will from York.^[2][3] The OED first quotes the verb about 1400, in Cleanness,^[5] and Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century.^[6] The noun, the glassy composition fused to metal surfaces, is first quoted in 1426, in Lydgate's Pilgrimage of the Life of Man;^[5] Barnhart has the form anamell in 1421,^[3] and Etymonline places the noun in the early 15th century, in ceramics.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Poets used the noun from 1600 for any smooth and lustrous colouring, especially of green fields and flowers,^[5] and Johnson (1755) gave as its first sense anything enamelled or variegated with inlaid colours, quoting Fairfax's Godfrey of Bulloigne.^[15] The verb likewise meant to adorn something magnificently (1593–1670) and to beautify a surface with rich and varied colours (from 1650).^[5] In 1718 the word was applied to the hard glossy coating of the teeth, after French émail;^[5][6] from 1762 it also meant a work of art executed in enamel.^[5] In the 19th century it was extended to any composition forming a smooth hard coating, on pottery, wood, leather or paper;^[5] from 1804 the verb was used of applying cosmetics to give the face a smooth look.^[5] Collins also records enamel paint and nail polish.^[13] In Black American slang of the 1940s enamel meant skin.^[16]

Timeline

• 1392 – verb, to ornament a metal object with enamel.^[2][3] The OED's first quotation is from about 1400.^[5]
• 1421 – noun, as anamell.^[3]
• 1426 – noun, the glassy composition fused to metal surfaces.^[5]
• 1593 – verb, to adorn magnificently (obsolete by 1670).^[5]
• 1600 – noun, any smooth, lustrous surface colouring.^[5]
• 1650 – verb, to adorn with rich and varied colours.^[5]
• 1718 – the hard coating of the teeth.^[5][6]
• 1762 – a work of art in enamel.^[5]
• 1804 – verb, to apply cosmetics to the face.^[5]
• 1865 – noun, any smooth hard coating, as on wood or leather.^[5]
• 1946 – slang, skin.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A glassy, opaque or translucent substance fused onto metal, glass or pottery for decoration or protection.^[13][4][5]
2. The hard, glossy substance that covers the crown of a tooth.^[13][5]
3. An object decorated with enamel, or a painting done in enamel.^[13][5]
4. A paint or varnish that dries to a hard, glossy finish.^[13][5]
5. Any smooth, glossy coating or surface.^[13][4]
6. Nail polish.^[13]

Verb

1. To cover, inlay or decorate with enamel.^[4][5][7]
2. To adorn with bright, varied colours, as if with enamel.^[4][5]
3. To give a smooth, glossy surface to.^[4][5]

Word family

• enameler
• enamelist
• enamelwork
• enamelware
• porcelain enamel
• vitreous enamel

Related words

• smelt
• melt
• smalt
• schmaltz
• amel

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com