What does depilating mean?
Depilating refers to the removal of body hair, typically through means other than ordinary shaving — such as waxes, chemical creams, sugaring pastes, or mechanical epilators that pull hair out at the root. The word derives from the Latin pilus, meaning hair, prefixed with de- to indicate removal, and it carries a clinical or formal register: you are far more likely to encounter it on a cosmetic product label or in a dermatological text than in casual conversation. Historically, depilating has deep roots — ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all practised systematic hair removal for reasons of hygiene, aesthetics, and status. Today the term survives mainly in compounds like depilatory cream and in professional beauty-industry contexts. Its precise, Latinate character makes it useful whenever a writer wants to describe hair removal broadly, encompassing every technique from plucking to chemical dissolution without singling one method out.
verb (present participle)Removing hair from the body or skin, especially by chemical, mechanical, or other means other than simply shaving; the act of stripping hair away.
- Removing body hair by any of various methods (chemical, waxing, plucking) as opposed to or in addition to shaving.
"The spa offers a range of depilating treatments, from waxing to sugaring."
"She spent the afternoon depilating her legs before the beach holiday."
"Ancient Egyptian beauty rituals involved depilating the entire body with abrasive pastes and pumice."
From Latin 'pilus' meaning 'hair' — so when a Roman said someone needed depilating, they were literally telling them to lose their hairs.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of depilating
Depilating comes from the Latin de- ('away, off') combined with pilus ('hair'), via the verb depilare, meaning to strip hair from. The English verb depilate entered usage around the early 17th century, borrowed directly from this Latin root. It shares its ancestry with related terms such as depilatory (an adjective and noun for hair-removing substances) and with the rarer adjective pilose, meaning hairy, all descending from the same Latin noun.
Related word forms
How depilating is actually used
Depilating is a somewhat formal or technical term, more common in dermatology, cosmetics marketing, and historical writing about grooming practices than in everyday speech, where words like shaving or waxing dominate.
Easily confused with depilating
Depopulating means reducing the population of an area, while depilating means removing hair from the body.