ointment

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English oinement, also oynement and oignement,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French oignement (“ointment, salve; anointing”), also oingnement,^[5][3][6][7] whose Anglo-Norman form uignement is recorded from the early 12th century.^[8][9] Most dictionaries derive the French noun from Vulgar Latin *unguimentum, an alteration of Latin unguentum (“ointment”) (the source of unguent),^{[5][6][3][4][7]} from unguō (“to anoint, smear”).^[7][5] The revised OED instead takes it as probably formed from a stem of oindre (“to anoint”) with the suffix -ment, and notes that some Middle English forms were remodelled after the Latin verb.^[9] The first t of the modern spelling comes from the obsolete verb oint, to anoint, recorded from 1375,^{[3][10][11][12]} from oint, the past participle of oindre;^[5][3][13] Barnhart and Skeat add the influence of anoint.^[3][14] The Latin verb is related to Old High German ancho (“butter”), Old Irish imb (“butter”) and Welsh ymenyn (“butter”),^[7][5] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ongw- (“to salve, anoint”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A soft paste for the skin, as a medicine or cosmetic: about 1300, in the South English Legendary life of St Nicholas, where a man brings boxes full of ointments to heal wounds.^[9][2] Barnhart dates the form oynement to about 1280,^[15][3] and the 1989 edition of the OED had about 1290.^[16]

Semantic evolution

The spelling with t is recorded from 1392 in Barnhart,^[3] and the OED finds such forms first in northern texts, remodelled after the verb oint.^[9] The word kept its first meaning, a salve or unguent, which is also used figuratively;^[9] the Middle English Dictionary records it as well for a preparation taken internally.^[2] It was also used for the act of anointing, from about 1400 to 1621.^[9][16] The phrase a fly in the ointment, a small thing that spoils the whole, is recorded from 1606 and goes back to the tenth chapter of Ecclesiastes.^[9][17][18] In slang ointment has meant money, which soothes life's troubles, and in 19th-century American use whiskey (1876).^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – a medicinal or cosmetic paste for the skin.^[9][2] Barnhart dates the form oynement to about 1280.^[3]
• 1375 – the verb oint, to anoint, whose influence gave the t.^[3]
• 1392 – the spelling ointment.^[3]
• c. 1400 – the act of anointing (obsolete by 1621).^[9]
• 1606 – a fly in the ointment.^[9]
• 1876 – American slang, whiskey.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A smooth, greasy or oily preparation rubbed on the skin to heal, soothe or protect it; a salve or unguent: She put some antiseptic ointment on the graze.^[20][7][21]
2. A similar substance used as a cosmetic.^[20][21][9]
3. a fly in the ointment: a small flaw or drawback that spoils something otherwise good.^[9][18]

Related words

• unguent
• unction
• anoint
• oint
• unctuous

References

1. ^ a b 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 i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
17. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
18. ^ a b Martin, Gary, The Phrase Finder: Meaning and Origin of Phrases, Sayings, Clichés and Quotes, https://www.phrases.org.uk
19. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
20. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
21. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin