Etymo

shampoo

A product or action for washing hair.

Played on · Day 6 · word 5 of 5

A massage became a bottle.

How shampoo reached English

oldest first
  1. Hindi

    champo

    ‘Press! Knead!’

  2. English

    shampoo

    ‘To massage the body’

  3. English

    shampoo

    ‘Hair-washing product’

The story of shampoo

English shampoo began as a verb for massaging the body. Its source was Hindi champo, an instruction to knead or press. The meaning later narrowed to working on the hair, then extended to the product used to wash it.

The command is shared by Hindi and Urdu. Hindi is the applicable option here; the word should not be understood as exclusive to Hindi.

Sources

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