Meanings
plural inunctions
- countableuncountableThe anointing or rubbing in of oil or balm.
Besides these fomentations, irrigations, inunctions, odoraments, prescribed for the head, there must be the like used for the liver, spleen, stomach, hyperchondries, etc.
1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 5, member 3, subsection i
Synonyms & antonyms
nounanointing as part of a religious ceremony or healing ritual
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃engʷ-“anoint”
- Latininunctio
- Englishinunction
From Latin inunctio, from inunctus, past participle of inungo (“anoint”), from in- + ungo (“anoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷ- (“anoint”).
More words from Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian втриване
- втриване (vtrivane)anointing
Finnish voitelu
- voiteluanointing
Cite this entry
inunction. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inunction
“inunction.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inunction. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “inunction,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/inunction.
Source: inunction on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.