facial

Early 17th century, borrowed from Medieval Latin faciālis (“face-to-face, direct, open”), from faciēs (“form, configuration, figure; face, visage, countenance”) +‎ -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪ.ʃəl/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃəl

facial (not comparable)

1. (relational) Of or affecting the face.
2. (medicine, relational) Concerned with or used in improving the appearance of the face.
3. (transferred sense, law) (of a law or regulation validity) On its face; as it appears (as opposed to on a more probing analysis, as it is applied, etc.).

   The facial constitutionality of the law is in question.

   • 2001, Bernard E. Harcourt, chapter 5, in Illusion of Order:

     Discipline is a form of counter-law, of dissymmetry and inequality, that operates under the discourse of juridical power to make possible the stated or facial claims of equality and rights characteristic of the French Revolution.

facial (plural facials)

1. (medicine) A personal care beauty treatment which involves cleansing and moisturizing of the human face.
2. (film) A kind of early silent film focusing on the facial expressions of the actor.
   • 2004, Simon Popple, Joe Kember, Early Cinema: From Factory Gate to Dream Factory, page 92:

     But in facials, moving picture technology also enabled an exaggeration of this performance tradition, bringing a new emphasis to the details […]

3. (slang, sports) (in some contact sports) A foul play which involves one player hitting another's face.
4. (slang, pornography, sex) A sex act of ejaculation onto another person's face.

   Synonym: money shot

   Coordinate term: self-facial

   Long-Dong Chuck gave his co-star a creamy facial.

   • 2021, Rachel Thompson, chapter 5, in Rough, Random House:

     For the piece she spoke to two women who said they enjoy facials, and who described the act as ‘the mark of a job well done’ and ‘really hot’. But Reid concludes that she herself finds facials deeply unpleasant.

• “facial”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “facial”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• cafila

Borrowed from Latin faciālis.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [fə.siˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [fa.siˈal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

facial m or f (masculine and feminine plural facials)

1. facial

   músculs facials

   facial muscles

• “facial”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

From English facial.

facial

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) facial; personal care beauty treatment which involves cleansing and moisturizing of the human face

   做facial [Cantonese]  ―  zou⁶ fei¹ sou⁴ [Jyutping]  ―  to have a facial treatment

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

From Latin faciālis.

• IPA^(key): /fa.sjal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

facial (feminine faciale, masculine plural faciaux, feminine plural faciales)

1. facial

• valeur faciale

• “facial”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Borrowed from Latin faciālis.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: fa‧ci‧al

facial m or f (plural faciais)

1. facial (of the face)

• “facial”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “facial”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “facial”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “facial”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French facial.

facial m or n (feminine singular facială, masculine plural faciali, feminine/neuter plural faciale)

1. facial

From Latin faciālis.

• IPA^(key): /faˈθjal/ [faˈθjal] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /faˈsjal/ [faˈsjal] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: fa‧cial

facial m or f (masculine and feminine plural faciales)

1. facial

• “facial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025