different between unguent vs lotion

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

Borrowed from Old French lotion, from Latin lotio, lotionem (“a washing”), from lavo (“to wash”); see lave. Doublet of lavation.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?lo???n/
• `
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?l????n/
• Rhymes: -????n

Noun

lotion (usually uncountable, plural lotions)

1. A low- to medium-viscosity topical preparation intended for application to unbroken skin.
2. (archaic) A washing, especially of the skin for the purpose of beautification.

Synonyms

• lavatory

Derived terms

• lotional

Translations

See also

• cream (generally a bit thicker than a lotion)

Verb

lotion (third-person singular simple present lotions, present participle lotioning, simple past and past participle lotioned)

1. (transitive) To cover or treat with a lotion.
   • 2005, Ryan Phillips, Fall from Grace (page 52)

     Grace lotions her arms and legs and joins him in the large walk-in closet where they change out of their clothes and into their pajamas—loose-fitting cotton bottoms for Mike and a lace-trimmed baby doll nightie for Grace.

   • 2011, Jeanne Starr Gater, Bring Back Summertime (page 89)

     I would finish my daily ranging session by lotioning his legs, and lotioning and rubbing his feet.

Further reading

• lotion in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• lotion in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• lootin', otolin