frankincense

English

Etymology

From Old French franc encens (“noble incense”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæŋkənˌsɛns/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

frankincense (countable and uncountable, plural frankincenses)

1. A type of incense obtained from the Boswellia thurifera tree.
   • 1916 December 29, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC:

     The glories of Mary held his soul captive : spikenard and myrrh and frankincense, symbolising the preciousness of God's gifts to her soul, rich garments, symbolising her royal lineage, her emblems, the lateflowering plant and lateblossoming tree, symbolising the agelong gradual growth of her cultus among men.

   • 2019, “Keep Moving Don't Move”, in The Book of Traps and Lessons, performed by Kae Tempest:

     Frankincense, Frankenstein, Francophile, Philistine / Frankly, we are killing time

Synonyms

• olibanum

Derived terms

• Jew's frankincense

Translations

frankincense, olibanum

• Arabic: لُبَان (ar) m (lubān)
• Aramaic:

  Christian Palestinian Aramaic: ܠܒܘܢܐ, ܠܝܒܘܢܐ, ܠܒܢܐ

  Classical Syriac: ܠܒܘܢܬܐ f (ləḇūntā)

  Imperial Aramaic: 𐡋𐡁𐡅𐡍𐡕𐡀 f (lbwntʾ)

  Jewish Literary Aramaic: לְבוּנתָּא f (ləḇūntā)

  Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: לבונתה f

• Armenian: խունկ (hy) (xunk), խեժ (hy) (xež), կնդրուկ (hy) (kndruk)

  Old Armenian: կնդրուկ (kndruk)

• Azerbaijani: buxur
• Bengali: লোবান (bn) (lōban)
• Bulgarian: тамян (bg) (tamjan)
• Burmese: လောဗန် (lau:ban)
• Catalan: encens (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 乳香 (zh) (rǔxiāng)

• Classical Nahuatl: tlenemāctli
• Coptic: ⲗⲓⲃⲁⲛⲟⲩ (libanou), ⲗⲓⲃⲁⲛⲟⲥ (libanos), ⲁⲗⲃⲟⲩⲛⲟⲩⲧ (albounout) (Old Coptic)
• Czech: kadidlo (cs) n
• Danish: røgelse
• Demotic: ꜣlbwnṱ
• Dhivehi: ވައިގުގޫ (vaigugū)
• Dutch: olibanum n
• Faroese: roykilsi n
• Finnish: olibaanihartsi (fi)
• French: encens (fr) m
• Georgian: საკმეველი (ka) (saḳmeveli)
• German: Weihrauch (de) m
• Greek: λιβάνι (el) n (liváni)

  Ancient: λίβανος m or f (líbanos), λιβανωτός m (libanōtós)

• Gujarati: લોબાન (lobān)
• Hebrew: לבונה (he) (l'vonah)
• Hindi: लोबान (hi) m (lobān), लोहबान (hi) (lohbān), कुन्दुर (hi) m (kundur), कुंदारु m (kundāru), सौराष्ट्री (hi) f (saurāṣṭrī), सुगन्ध (hi) f (sugandh)
• Hungarian: tömjén (hu)
• Icelandic: reykelsi (is) n
• Irish: túis f
• Italian: franchincenso m, olibano m
• Japanese: 乳香 (ja) (にゅうこう, nyūkō)
• Korean: 유향 (yuhyang)
• Lao: ກຳຍານ (kam nyān)
• Latin: libanus m
• Macedonian: те́мјан m (témjan)
• Malay: kemenyan
• Malayalam: സാമ്പ്രാണി (ml) (sāmprāṇi)
• Maltese: frankinċens
• Maori: parakihe
• Persian: کندر (fa) (kondor)
• Portuguese: olíbano m
• Punic: 𐤋𐤁𐤍𐤕 f (lḇūnaṯ)
• Romanian: tămâie (ro)
• Romansch: intschains
• Russian: ла́дан (ru) m (ládan)
• Sanskrit: कुन्दुर (sa) m (kundura), सौराष्ट्री (sa) f (saurāṣṭrī), सुगन्ध (sa) f (sugandha), कुन्दुरुक m (kunduruka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: та̀мјан m

  Roman: tàmjan (sh) m

• Shan: လေႃႇပၢၼ်ႇ (làu pàan)
• Slovak: kadidlo n
• Somali: uunsi (so)
• Spanish: olíbano m, franquincienso m, francoincienso m
• Swahili: uvumba (sw)
• Swedish: rökelse (sv), olibanum (sv) n
• Tagalog: kamanyang
• Tamil: சாம்பிராணி (ta) (cāmpirāṇi)
• Thai: กำยาน (th) (gam-yaan)
• Turkish: akgünlük (tr)
• Urdu: لوبان m (lobān)
• Vietnamese: nhũ hương (vi)
• Welsh: thus m