different between unguent vs unctuous

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 Medieval Latin unctu?sus (“oily”), from Latin unctum, from unguere, ungere (“to anoint”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nkt?u?s/
• Hyphenation: unc?tu?ous

Adjective

unctuous (comparative more unctuous, superlative most unctuous)

1. (of a liquid or substance) Oily or greasy.
2. (of a wine, coffee, sauce, gravy etc.) Rich, lush, intense, with layers of concentrated, soft, velvety flavor.
3. (by extension, of a person) Profusely polite, especially unpleasantly so and insincerely earnest.
   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Volume the Second, page 14 ?ISBN

     Then he thoroughly disliked the tone of Mr. Slope's letter; it was unctuous, false, and unwholesome, like the man.

Synonyms

• (of a liquid): oleaginous, saponaceous, slimy; see also Thesaurus:unctuous
• (of wine, coffee, sauce, gravy etc.): savorous
• (profusely, especially unpleasantly, polite): creepy, effusive, groveling, oleaginous, slimy, sycophantic; see also Thesaurus:sycophantic

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

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