Aftershave

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A liquid product used on the face after shaving to soothe skin and provide fragrance
2. A grooming lotion applied to the skin once shaving is finished to help reduce irritation and add a pleasant scent
3. A cosmetic preparation applied post-shave to calm the skin and give a refreshing aroma

Etymology: Aftershave is about as transparent as compounds get: the word is simply "after" joined to "shave," and the same pattern built the phrase it began as, "after shave," long before the two parts were written as one. "After" descends from Old English "æfter," which traces back through Proto-Germanic "*after" to an ancient Indo-European root meaning roughly "behind" or "later," so the ingredients of this word are very old even if the product is not. The first element, "shave," comes from Old English "sceafan," meaning to scrape or cut away, and it kept that sense of removing a thin layer for centuries before it came to mean removing facial hair with a razor. A shave, then, is a scraping, and the aftershave is whatever is put on once that scraping is finished.

Synonyms: aftershave lotion, aftershave balm, post-shave product, shaving tonic, fragrance