different between unguent vs emollient

English

Alternative forms

• onguent

Etymology

From Latin unguentum (“ointment”), from ungu? (“I smear with ointment”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?eng?- (“to salve, anoint”). Cognates include Old Prussian anctan, Old High German ancho (German Anke (“butter”)), Welsh ymenyn (“butter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /????w?nt/, (nonstandard) /?nd??(u)?nt/

Noun

unguent (plural unguents)

1. Any cream containing medicinal ingredients applied to the skin for therapeutic purposes.
   • 1809-1812 — William Combe, Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque

     "Alas!" said Syntax, "could I pop / Just now, upon a blacksmith's shop, / Whose cooling unguents would avail / To save poor Grizzle's ears and tail!"

   • 1853 — Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece

     So she put a golden box into his hand, and directed him how to apply the perfumed unguent which it contained, and where to meet her at midnight.

   • 1890 — Arthur Conan Doyle, A Literary Mosaic

     Thou knowest of old that my temper is somewhat choleric, and my tongue not greased with that unguent which oils the mouths of the lip-serving lords of the land.

Related terms

Translations

See also

• medicine
• ointment

Latin

Verb

unguent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of ungu?

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin unguentum

Noun

unguent n (plural unguente)

1. ointment

Declension

English

Etymology

From French émollient, from Latin emolli?ns, present active participle of ?molli? (“make soft”), from ex- + molli?, from mollis (“soft”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??m?l.?.?nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??m?l.j?nt/

Noun

emollient (plural emollients)

1. Something which softens or lubricates the skin; moisturizer.
   • 2008, Carol A. Miller, Nursing for Wellness in Older Adults (Fifth edition), Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, p. 505,

     [T]he effectiveness of an emollient is based on its ability to prevent water evaporation, […]

2. Anything soothing the mind, or that makes something more acceptable.
   • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas,

     Attentive conversation is an emollient I lack sorely aboard Prophetess & the doctor is a veritable polymath.

Translations

Adjective

emollient (comparative more emollient, superlative most emollient)

1. Moisturizing.
2. Soothing or mollifying.

Translations

Related terms

• mollify

Latin

Verb

?mollient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of ?molli?