Cajuput

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A pungent aromatic essential oil distilled from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia and Australia ; the broad-leaved evergreen tree of the myrtle family that yields this oil
2. An aromatic volatile oil obtained by distilling the leaves of an Asian and Australian myrtle tree ; that myrtle tree itself, a tall evergreen with papery bark
3. A medicinal oil extracted from the foliage of a myrtle-family evergreen grown in tropical Asia ; the evergreen tree from which this oil is produced

Etymology: Cajuput oil is distilled from the leaves of the cajuput tree, a relative of the myrtle, and its name is a Malay phrase meaning "white wood." The tree is called kayu putih in Malay, where kayu means "wood" and putih means "white," and the English word is a rendering of that compound. The name points to the pale colour of the tree's wood, which is the detail that gave the plant its identity in the Malay-speaking world. The word therefore carries a non-English history from its first moment: it was borrowed whole as a product name, with the Malay grammar and vocabulary intact, rather than being coined from English or Latin elements. Readers who meet "cajuput" in pharmacy or aromatherapy contexts are handling a Malay phrase that traveled with the oil itself.

Synonyms: cajeput