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# The word alcohol derives from the Arabic name for kohl, the ancient eye cosmetic
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/kaial-konturnyi-karandash-dlia-glaz-izvestnyi-na-vostoke-s-4-tysiacheletiia-do-nashei-ery-etimologicheski-predshestvuet-slovu-alkogol-zaimstvovannomu-evropeitsami-iz-arabskogo-mira/
- Published: 2020-05-12T09:29:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:55:49.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: The East, Science, Ethnography

Kohl, the eye-liner pencil known in the East since the 4th millennium BC, etymologically precedes the word alcohol, borrowed by Europeans from the Arab world. Alcohol derives from the Arabic al-kuħl, meaning "made of antimony", or, literally, of kohl. The word entered Arabic from Assyro-Babylonian, where it meant the same thing. In time the word "alcohol" came to designate not only the ancient cosmetic, but other products prepared in a similar manner, by means of sublimation or distillation.