Cajuputi

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An aromatic essential oil distilled from the leaves of the cajuput tree, used as a medicinal remedy and fragrance
2. A pungent volatile oil obtained from the leaves of an Asian myrtle tree and valued in traditional medicine
3. The fragrant oil pressed or distilled from cajuput foliage, commonly applied to ease aches and congestion

Etymology: In Malay, "kayu putih" means "white wood," the name of a tree in the myrtle family found in Southeast Asia and northern Australia. Its leaves yield a pungent, camphor-scented oil, long valued as a remedy. European merchants and botanists adopted the Malay name as "cajuput," and it became the English name for both the tree and its oil. "Cajuputi" is the Latin genitive of that name, used in scientific phrases such as "oleum cajuputi," or "oil of cajuput." Botanists used the same form in the species name Melaleuca cajuputi, so the word mostly appears in Latinized naming rather than everyday English.