ANSWERS: 5
  • According to a dictionary I consulted, it comes from a Hindustani word chhampo, meaning 'to press'. There is a tilde over the 'a' which I can't figure out how to type. There is no connection given for what what 'press' has to do with washing hair.
  • "Shampoo" comes from the Hindi word "campo" which means "to press". A "shampoo" which entered English around 1762 was originally a full-body massage.
  • The word shampoo in English usage dates back to 1762, with the meaning "to massage". The word was a loan from Anglo-Indian shampoo, in turn from Hindi champo, imperative of champna, "to press, knead the muscles, massage".
  • The word is derived from the Hindi word chhampo, which means press - to shampoo someone was to massage them. Shampooing was part of the Turkish bath ritual and its meaning evolved to become part of the cleansing process. To shampoo the hair (a verb) was to cleanse and massage the scalp. The use of the word as a noun - that is, the liquid that we use to wash our hair - came about in the 19th century.
  • Once upon a time people could get realpoo, the ingredients became vital to the effort during The War With the Newts and scientists developed the fake or shampoo. WHAP! OK, OK ,please do not reapply that. Campo, champo,chhampo,champna, tilded or not, and from knead to massage to wash that everone mentioned is correct. I can take it back past Hindi to Sanskrit capayati "pounds, kneads", and after that war effort thing I do knead to be pounded. The different spellings result from the British in the sub-continent, 'India', trying to translate a word from a language written in an entirely different alphabet, which is actually to transliterate a word, which often also results in a slightly different meaning. Other 'Anglo-Indian' words with slightly different meanings from the original and sometimes different spellings and pronunciations in English include jungle and pajamas or pyjamas.

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