Lotion

How to spell lotion

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce lotion

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lotion mean?

1. nounA smooth liquid or cream applied to the skin for moisture, soothing, or medical treatment.

Lotion in a sentence

• She smoothed a thick lotion over her sunburnt shoulders.

• The pharmacist recommended a fragrance-free lotion for sensitive skin.

Where does lotion come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin lotio, which meant a washing or a bathing, and was built on the verb lavare, meaning 'to wash'. The form lotus was the past participle of that verb, literally 'washed', so a lotio was originally the act of washing rather than a substance you applied. English took the word in through Old French around the late 1300s, when it referred to a medicinal liquid used to wash or bathe a wound or an inflamed part of the skin. Over the centuries the meaning drifted from the act of washing to the cosmetic and soothing creams and liquids we rub onto the skin today. The same lavare root still survives in everyday relatives such as 'lavatory', 'lather', and 'launder', all of which keep the original sense of washing.

How the word is built

• lot- (from Latin lotus, washed)
• -ion (noun suffix)