olibanum
/ɒˈlɪbənəm/
olibanum noun: a gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense.
Noun
olibanum (countable and uncountable, plural olibanums)
- A gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense.
- Aromatics were used, too, especially in necromancy, and an old recipe of that sort comprises Musk, Myrrh, Frankincense, Red Storax, Mastick, Olibanum, Saffron, Benzoin and Labdanum.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 112
- Among the Turks, an exciting compound consists of olibanum, myrrh, camphor, musk, in pulverized form. The resultant perfume is said to affect the genitals.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 168
- Synonyms:
- frankincense
olibanum meaning in Hindi, Kannada and Sanskrit
olibanum in Hindi
- olibanum, frankincense, benzoin
- लोबान lobān
olibanum in Kannada
- ಲೋಬಾನ
olibanum in Sanskrit
- olibanum
- कुन्द kunda, कुन्दुरुक kunduruka, तैल tailá
Synonyms of olibanum
Forms of olibanum
| plural | olibanums |
|---|
Origin of olibanum
Borrowed from Medieval Latin olibanum, from Latin oleum libani, the first word meaning oil and the second from Ancient Greek λίβανος (líbanos, “frankincense (Boswellia sacra)”), from a Semitic source, compare Proto-Semitic *laban- (“white”). Cognate with Biblical Hebrew לְבוֹנָה (l'voná, “frankincense”), Arabic لبان (lubān, “frankincense”). (Compare benzoin for a similar process of metanalysis.) Doublet of oliban.
Words formed from olibanum
Questions about olibanum
- What does olibanum mean?
- Olibanum means a gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense.
- What is olibanum in Hindi?
- Olibanum in Hindi is लोबान (lobān). See Olibanum meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is olibanum?
- Olibanum is a noun.
- How do you pronounce olibanum?
- Olibanum is pronounced /ɒˈlɪbənəm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of olibanum?
- The plural of olibanum is olibanums.
Words near olibanum in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: olibanum (page history and authors); लोबान (Hindi) (page history and authors); olibanum (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); कुन्द (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Eleanorrrrrrrrrr-olibanum.wav.
Cite this entry: “olibanum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/olibanum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.