kohl

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic كُحْل (kuḥl, “antimony; kohl, powdered stibnite”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The OED traces the noun to the same base as an Arabic verb meaning to stain or paint, and a Hebrew verb of that meaning recorded only at Ezekiel 23:40, and compares Akkadian guḫlu (“antimony used as eye paint”),^[2] which Klein thinks is probably a West Semitic loan.^[6] With the definite article, as اَلْكُحْل (al-kuḥl), the noun passed through Medieval Latin into English much earlier as alcohol, so that the two are doublets.^[2][1][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A powder used in the East to darken the eyelids, usually of finely ground antimony: 1799, in W. G. Browne's Travels in Africa.^[2][3][9]

Semantic evolution

The substance was known to English writers before the word: George Sandys in 1615 described a black powder put between the eyelid and the eye, "called Alcohol".^[7] That word later moved on to mean a distilled spirit,^[7] and kohl is recorded for the cosmetic from 1799, as something used in the East.^[2] The dictionaries differ on what it is made of: antimony,^[2][8] antimony or soot mixed with other ingredients,^[3] or antimony or lead sulphide,^[10] and the Century Dictionary added smoke-black from burnt almond shells.^[11] The Shorter Oxford notes its use as an eye ointment as well as make-up.^[10] Collins treats it as a cosmetic used originally in Muslim and Asian countries, no longer limited to them.^[12] The verb, to darken with kohl, is recorded only from 1947.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1799 – a powder for darkening the eyelids, spelled kohhel.^[2][3][9]
• 1947 – verb, to darken with kohl.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dark cosmetic powder, typically of antimony sulphide or lead sulphide, used to darken the area around the eyes: Her eyes were rimmed with kohl.^{[12][10][3][2]}

Verb

1. To darken with this powder.^[2][10]

Related words

• alcohol
• kohlrabi

Usage notes

The OED has a separate noun of this spelling, a shortening of kohlrabi, recorded from 1880 in the Daily News.^[2] Dictionary.com warns that the word can be confused with coal and koel.^[13] The spellings cohol and kohol are less common.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Whitney, William Dwight, ed. (1889–1891), The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, New York: The Century Co. (1901 printing)
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House