Word.ws English Dictionary

ylang ylang

ylang ylang noun: the fragrant flower of a tropical tree (Cananga odorata) native to southeast Asia.

Noun

ylang ylang (countable and uncountable, plural ylang ylangs)

  1. (countable) The fragrant flower of a tropical tree (Cananga odorata) native to southeast Asia.
  2. (uncountable, perfumery) An essential oil derived from this flower used in aromatherapy and perfumes.
    • Essential oils such as jasmine, rose, vetiver, ilang-ilang, iris, vanilla, sandalwood or lavender cannot be synthesised in the laboratory.2014 March 7, Nicole Vulser, “Perfume manufacturers must cope with the scarcity of precious supplies”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 190, number 13, page 30
  3. (countable) The tree (Cananga odorata) on which ylang ylang flowers grow.
    Synonyms:
    cananga tree

ylang ylang meaning in Tamil, Tagalog, Malay and Indonesian

ylang ylang in Tamil

tree
சிறுசெண்பகம் ciṟuceṇpakam

ylang ylang in Tagalog

flower
ilang-ilang, alangilan

ylang ylang in Malay

tree
kenanga
flower
kenanga
oil
kenanga

ylang ylang in Indonesian

tree
kenanga
flower
kenanga
oil
minyak kenanga
More languagesFewer languages
ylang ylang in Thai
กระดังงา grà-dang-ngaa
ylang ylang in Vietnamese
hoàng lan, ngọc lan tây

Synonyms of ylang ylang

Forms of ylang ylang

pluralylang ylangs
alternative formylang-ylang
alternative formilang-ilang

Origin of ylang ylang

Via Early Modern Spanish, from Tagalog ilang-ilang, from either ilang (“wilderness”) or ilang-ilan (“rare”).

Questions about ylang ylang

What does ylang ylang mean?
Ylang ylang means the fragrant flower of a tropical tree (Cananga odorata) native to southeast Asia.
What is ylang ylang in Tamil?
Ylang ylang in Tamil is சிறுசெண்பகம் (ciṟuceṇpakam). See Ylang ylang meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is ylang ylang?
Ylang ylang is a noun.
What is the plural of ylang ylang?
The plural of ylang ylang is ylang ylangs.

Words near ylang ylang in the dictionary

  1. Ykybayevs
  2. YL
  3. ylaid
  4. yland
  5. ylands
  6. ylang ylang
  7. ylang ylangs
  8. ylang-ylang
  9. ylang-ylangs
  10. yld.
  11. ylds.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ylang ylang (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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Cite this entry: “ylang ylang.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ylang_ylang. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.