Aloe

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈæ.loʊ/

Definitions

1. A succulent plant with thick, fleshy leaves containing a gel often used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes
2. A desert plant known for its soothing sap that aids in healing burns and skin irritations
3. A tropical botanical species valued for its moisturizing and healing gel extracted from its leaves

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "aloe" is that the plant's name began in a fragrant tree resin rather than the succulent we now associate with it. The Old English "alwe" meant a fragrant resin from an East Indian tree, and that resin, not the plant, was the prized commodity. Scholars trace the chain back to the Old Tamil "akil," a word for a fragrant aromatic wood, which seems to have travelled westward with the trade in that wood. The route ran through Hebrew "ahalim," the word used in the Old Testament for aromatic wood, and then into Ancient Greek as "aloē" and Latin "aloe." Those transcriptions shaped the spelling we see today, and Old French "aloes" reinforced the word in Middle English. Meaning shifted as the name moved from resin to plant. The succulent that gives healing gel took the name over time, so the modern sense is a later reassignment of a word first used for an aromatic resin.

Synonyms: plant, succulent, herb, medicinal plant, lily