- emollient (adj.)
- 1640s, from French émollient (16c.), from Latin emollientem (nominative emolliens), present participle of emollire "to make soft, soften," from assimilated form of ex- "out" (see ex-) + mollire "soften," from mollis "soft" (see melt (v.)). The noun is recorded from 1650s.
