Oily

How to spell oily

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce oily

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does oily mean?

1. adjectiveCovered with, containing, or resembling oil; greasy.
2. adjectiveUnpleasantly smooth and insincere in manner or speech; falsely flattering.

Oily in a sentence

• She wiped her oily hands on a rag after fixing the engine.

• The salesman gave an oily smile and promised the impossible.

• The fish was fried in too much fat and tasted oily.

• His oily compliments made the whole room uncomfortable.

Where does oily come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word is built on the noun oil with the native English adjective suffix -y, which means 'full of' or 'resembling'. Oil itself travelled into English through Old French oile from the Latin oleum, meaning 'oil', and that in turn came from the Greek elaion, the oil pressed from the elaia, the olive tree. For the ancient Mediterranean world the original oil was specifically olive oil, so the very root of the word recalls a fruit rather than petroleum. English began using oil in the 1100s and 1200s, and the adjective oily, meaning 'covered with or like oil', was in use by the 1500s. A figurative sense soon followed, describing speech or manner that is slippery, smooth, and insincerely flattering. The spelling stays simple: keep the oi together and remember the single l before the -y.

How the word is built

• oil (from Latin oleum: oil)
• -y (adjective suffix: full of, resembling)