ampoule

noun

am·​poule ˈam-ˌpyül 

-pül

variants or ampule or less commonly ampul

1

: a hermetically sealed small bulbous glass vessel that is used to hold a solution for hypodermic injection

2

: a vial resembling an ampoule

Examples of ampoule in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

First, apply an ampoule of hyaluronic acid that floods skin with moisture, then press the sheet mask on your skin. —Claire Sullivan, WWD, 9 July 2024

Step 7: Treatments The next step is your treatments: serums and ampoules. —Iman Balagam, Vogue, 6 July 2024

Inside the car is a fresh stash of ampoules and a phone with a video message. —Nick Caruso, TVLine, 26 June 2024

Ideal for all skin types, the Dr. Jart+ mask boasts a soft, flexible material for cooling the skin along with an ampoule filled with collagen, niacinamide and glyerin. —Danielle Directo-Meston, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, earlier, "vial, flask," going back to Old French ampule, ampoule, borrowed from Latin ampulla ampulla

Note: The word ampoule in reference to a vessel holding liquid for a hypodermic injection was introduced by its inventor, the French pharmacist Stanislas Limousin (1831-87), in "Ampoules hypodermiques. Nouveau mode de préparation des solutions pour les injections hypodermiques," Bulletin générale de thérapeutique médicale et chirurgicale, vol. 110 (1886), p. 316. — The spellings ampule, ampul hark back to an earlier English word meaning "vial, flask," apparently rare by the 19th century, that continues Middle English ampulle, ampoile, borrowed from the Anglo-French and Old French word. Old English ampelle, ampulle "flask," a feminine weak noun, is borrowed directly from Latin.

First Known Use

1886, in the meaning defined at sense 1