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An unctuous person is far too friendly and pours out far too much praise, in a way that makes you feel they want something. Picture the shop assistant who calls you 'sir' five times in one sentence, or the man at the funeral whose sympathy is so smooth and so ready that you doubt he feels it. The word carries the speaker's judgement inside it: you never call yourself unctuous, and calling someone unctuous is a real insult. What makes the word special is the physical picture underneath. It literally means ', greasy', and that is exactly the feeling — the person is slippery, too smooth, and you want to wash your hands after talking to them. English has a small family of these: , slimy, smarmy, greasy. Unctuous is the most formal and of them; 'smarmy' is what people actually say in speech. It fits especially well when the flattery has a religious or funeral-parlour smoothness to it. One more use worth knowing, because you will meet it on menus: food writers use 'unctuous' as a compliment for something rich, soft and fatty in the mouth — 'unctuous pork belly'. Same oil, opposite feeling. Context tells you which one it is; there is never any real confusion.
諂媚的、油腔滑調的、假殷勤的（那種讓人渾身不對勁的過度奉承；美食寫作中則指「油潤軟腴的」，是稱讚）
組成From Latin unctum 'ointment, oil' plus -osus 'full of' — so 'full of oil'. Unctum comes from unguere 'to anoint, to smear with oil'. English kept the grease and turned it into a way of describing a personality.
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
unctuousadj/ˈʌŋ(k)t͡ʃʊəs/
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Having the nature or properties of an unguent or ointment; greasy, oily.
- It is, of the one part, / A humide exhalation, vvhich vve call / Materia liquida, or the Vnctuous VVater; […]
- [H]e ſeveral time obſerved, that cutting a Cheeſe in tvvo, vvhen they vvere any thing near the Equinoctial, that moſt part of it vvould be very dry and brittle, and ſeem'd as if it vvere ſpoil'd: VVhereas the Parts about the middle vvere ſo fat and ſoft, as if all the unctuous Parts that vvere vvanting in the dried Portion of the Cheeſe had retired thither, and vvas betvveen Cream and Cheeſe.
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Having fat or oil present; fatty, greasy, oily.
- Meates fatte and vnctuouſe, nouryſheth, and maketh ſoluble.
- I my ſelfe vvill haue / The beards of Barbels, ſeru'd, in ſtead of ſallades; / Oyld Muſhromes; and the ſvvelling vnctuous papps / Of a fat pregnant Sovv, nevvly cut off, / Dreſt vvith an exquiſite, and poynant ſauce; […]
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Of an aroma or taste, or a beverage (such as coffee or wine) or food (such as gravy, meat, or sauce): having layers of concentrated, velvety flavour; lush, rich.
- Again, Taſts may properly be ſaid, to be Soft or Hard. A Soft Taſte, is either Vapid, as in VVatery Bodies, VVhites of Eggs, Starch, Fine Boles, &c. Or Unctuous, as in Oyls, Fat, &c. […] Contrary to an Unctuous Taſte, are Aſtringent, and Pungent; as in Galls, and Spirit of Sal Aromanick.
- The halls and passages of the castle were already permeated with rich and unctuous smells, and a delicate nose might have picked out and arranged, by their finer or coarser vapors, the dishes preparing for the upper and lower tables.
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Of soil: soft and sticky.
- Furthermore, good and excellent Earth ſhould be of the ſame conſtitution, and not of contrary, as ſoft and hard; churliſh and mild; moiſt and dry; not too unctuous nor too lean, but reſoluble, and of a juſt and procreative temper, combining into a light, and eaſily crumbling Mould; […]
- Chalk is of tvvo Sorts, the hard dry ſtrong Chalk, vvhich is the beſt for Lime; and a ſoft unctuous Chalk, vvhich is the beſt for Lands, becauſe it eaſily diſſolves vvith Rain and Froſt.
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Of a person:
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Of a person:
- "No bankers' books, or cheque books, or bill, or such tokens of wealth rolling in from day to day?" said old Sol, looking wistfully at his nephew out of the fog that always seemed to hang about him, and laying an unctuous emphasis upon the words.
- Then he thoroughly disliked the tone of Mr. Slope's letter; it was unctuous, false, and unwholesome, like the man.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。