palo santo
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish palo santo.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpɑloʊ ˈsɑntəʊ/
Noun
palo santo (plural palo santos)
- (US) see the Spanish section
Usage notes
Native English usage, as distinguished from descriptions of local occurrences of Latin America, seems to consist primarily of esoteric circles employing incense sticks, and yerba mate drinkers having their gourds made of wood, so it uses to be not clear with species it refers to, but in this fashion all source language meanings may apply.
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌpalo ˈsanto/ [ˌpa.lo ˈsãn̪.t̪o]
- Syllabification: pa‧lo san‧to
Noun
palo santo m (plural palos santos)
- guaiacwood, holywood lignumvitae (Guaiacum sanctum, and other Guaiacum trees and woods)
- Gonopterodendron sarmientoi, until recently called Bulnesia sarmientoi
- Bursera graveolens
- Diospyros spp.
- 1994, Geilfus, Frans, El árbol al servicio del agricultor: manual de agroforestería para el desarrollo rural. Volumen 2. Guía de especies, Turrialba, Costa Rica, page 77:
- Diospyros kaki … palo santo … También se usa como patrón el palo santo de Virginia (Diospyros virginiana) y el palo santo chino (Diospyros lotus).
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
-
- (Argentina, dated) Dasyphyllum diacanthoides, earlier called Flotovia diacanthoides
- Synonyms: palo blanco, trevo
- (obsolete, Philippines) santol, apparently a phono-semantic matching of Tagalog santol (Sandoricum ternatum syn. Sandoricum vidalii and Sandoricum venosum, Sandoricum koetjape)
- (obsolete, Jalisco) Diphysa suberosa
- (obsolete, Puebla) Fouquieria formosa
- (Chile) Weinmannia trichosperma
- (possibly obsolete, a plant that only exists in central Chile) Porlieria higrometrica
- (one rare species within its genus found in Puerto Rico) Ocotea foeniculacea
Descendants
- → Arabic: خَشَب القَدِّيسِين (ḵašab al-qaddīsīn) (calque)
- → English: palo santo
Further reading
- “palo santo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014