unction [LME] This is from Latin unctio, from unguere ‘anoint’, also the source of unguent [LME], and via French of anoint [ME] and ointment [ME]. The phrase extreme unction [LME] in the Roman Catholic Church refers to a final anointing of a sick person in danger of death. Unctuous [LME] had the early sense ‘greasy; like an ointment’, which rapidly developed into ‘rich’. The sense ‘having spiritual unction’ developed in the mid 18th century, but rapidly developed the sense that this was hypocritical.