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ointment.

A viscous preparation of oils and/or fats, usually containing medication, used as a treatment or as an emollient.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈɔɪntm(ə)nt/Received-Pronunciation[ˈɔ̃ɪ̃(n)ʔ.mɪ̃(n)ʔ]Received-Pronunciation/ˈɔɪn(t)m(ə)nt/General-American
  1. A viscous preparation of oils and/or fats, usually containing medication, used as a treatment or as an emollient.

    countable · uncountable
    The doctor prescribed an antibiotic ointment for the wound.
    She applied a soothing herbal ointment to her dry skin.
  2. A substance used to anoint, as in religious rituals.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

A later form (as if oint + -ment) of Middle English oinement, borrowed from Old French oignement (“an anointing”), from oigner, oindre, ongier (“to anoint”), from Latin ung(u)ō (“I anoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷ- (“to smear, anoint”). Partly displaced native Old English sealf, whence modern salve.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.