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sunscreen

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Etymology and origin of the English word sunscreen

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1738 G. Smith, Curious Relations
Ultimate origins
Old English sunneOld French escren
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English sun
English sunscreen
From the same root
English sunflower ← sun
English sunrise ← sun

Pronunciation

  • /ˈsʌn.skɹiːn/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English sun + screen.[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A screen giving protection against the sun: 1738, in G. Smith's Curious Relations.[2][3] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1730–40.[4]

Semantic evolution

For two centuries a sunscreen was an object, such as a portable or handheld screen or part of a building, that kept off the sun.[2][3] From 1937, in an advertisement in the New York Times, it was a substance meant to protect the skin from ultraviolet rays and prevent sunburn, and now usually a cream or lotion containing one.[2] Etymonline finds the lotion sense by 1954, and Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1958.[3][5]

Timeline

  • 1738 – a screen giving protection against the sun.[2][3]
  • 1937 – a substance, and later a cream or lotion, protecting the skin from ultraviolet rays.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1954.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cream or lotion put on the skin to protect it from the sun's ultraviolet rays and prevent sunburn: Put on more sunscreen after swimming.[6][7][8][2]
  2. A chemical in such a preparation that absorbs or filters out ultraviolet light.[5][4][2]
  3. A screen or structure, such as a latticework over a patio, that shields a place from the sun.[2][4]

Word family

  • sunscreening

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  8. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
Cite this entry

“Sunscreen.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/sunscreen. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·