essential oil

English

Etymology

Containing the essence of the plant's fragrance.

Noun

essential oil (plural essential oils)

1. A volatile oil, used to make perfumes and flavourings, especially one having the characteristic odour of the plant from which it is obtained.
   • 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 102:

     The odours of many flowers so delightful to our sense of smell, as well as the disagreeable scents of others, are owing to the exhalation of their essential oils.

   • 2020 August 12, Adrian Horton, “The dark side of wellness: behind a Netflix series on a murky industry”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The use of essential oils – aromatic substances derived from plants – has been around for centuries, and studies suggest certain oils offer minor benefits to sleep (lavender) or headaches (peppermint).

Translations

volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings

• Armenian: եթերային յուղ (etʿerayin yuġ)
• Catalan: oli essencial m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 精油 (zh) (jīngyóu)

• Danish: æterisk olie
• Dutch: etherische olie (nl)
• Estonian: eeterlik õli
• Finnish: eteerinen öljy
• French: huile essentielle (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: ätherisches Öl n
• Greek: αιθέριο έλαιο (el) n (aithério élaio)
• Hungarian: illóolaj (hu)
• Italian: essenza (it) f
• Japanese: 精油 (ja) (せいゆ, seiyu), エッセンシャルオイル (essensharu oiru)
• Korean: 정유(精油) (ko) (jeong'yu)
• Latvian: ēteriskā eļļa
• Lithuanian: eterinis aliejus
• Polish: olejek eteryczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: óleo essencial m
• Romanian: ulei esențial n
• Russian: эфи́рное ма́сло (ru) n (efírnoje máslo)
• Slovak: éterický olej, esenciálny olej
• Spanish: aceite esencial m
• Swedish: eterisk olja (sv) c
• Thai: น้ำมันหอมระเหย (nám-man-hɔ̌ɔm-rá-hə̌əi)
• Vietnamese: tinh dầu (vi) (精油)

See also

• fixed oil