Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Beverly Hills Lingual Institute

Blog      Language, Learning and Culture

Classes in More than 35 Languages return to blog index

Lipstick is Always a Good Idea

Unlike many a beauty trend, red lipstick has stood the test of time.

Believe it or not, people started wearing lipstick five thousand years ago. In ancient Samaria, the Sumerians would crush gems and decorate their faces with the powder; specifically, around their eyes and lips.

Other cultures, all across the Middle East, North Africa, and India, used plants and fruits to create make-up - and red lipstick, in particular. Some ingredients could be harmful. Some of the plants used to create the red color in lipstick were later found to be toxic or deadly. Despite these dangers, lipstick continued as a status symbol.

Egypt is where the manufacturing of lipstick became what it is today. It was there that the color of carmine, extracted from cochineal insects, became popular.

The deep red carmine color today comes in many different shades. Interestingly, "carmine" has not influenced the way that "lipstick" is said in different languages. Most are a direct translation of "lip" and "color" or "stick."

Arabic
أحمر الشفاه
(ahmar alshaffah)
Armenian
Շրթնաներ
(shrt'nanerk)
Chinese (Mandarin)
口红
(kǒuhóng)
Czech
rtěnka
Danish
læbestift
Dutch
lippenstift
Filipino/ Tagalog
lipistik
Finnish
huulipuna
French
rouge à lèvres
German
lippenstift
Greek (Modern)
Κραγιόν
(kragión)
Hebrew
שְׂפָתוֹן
(s'faton)
Hindi
लिपस्टिक
(lipastik)
Hungarian
ajakrúzs
Italian
rossetto
Japanese
l口紅
(kuchibeni)
Korean
립스틱
(libseutig)
Macedonian
kармин
(karmin)
Norwegian
leppestift
Persian/ Farsi
رژ لب
(mātik)*
Polish
pomadka
Portuguese
batom
Romanian
ruj
Russian
губная помада
(gubnaya pomada)
Serbo/ Croatian
ruž za usne
Slovenian
šminka
Spanish
lápiz labial
Swahili
lipstick
Swedish
läppstift
Thai
ลิปสติก
(lips̄tik)
Turkish
ruj
Urdu
لپسٹک
Vietnamese
son môi
Zulu
I-lipstick

* interestingly this comes from the French word "cosmetique," shortened

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