incense

See also: incensé

English

Etymology

From Middle English encens, from Old French encens (“sweet-smelling substance”) from Late Latin incensum (“burnt incense”, literally “something burnt”), neuter past participle of incendō (“I set on fire”). Compare incendiary. Cognate with Spanish encender and incienso.

Pronunciation

• Noun:
  • enPR: ĭn'sĕns, IPA^(key): /ˈɪnsɛns/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Verb:
  • enPR: ĭnsĕns', IPA^(key): /ɪnˈsɛns/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: (verb) -ɛns

Noun

incense (countable and uncountable, plural incenses)

1. A perfume used in the rites of various religions.
2. (figuratively) Homage; adulation.

Hyponyms

• joss stick, incense stick

Derived terms

• incense boat
• incense cedar

Related terms

• frankincense

Translations

perfume often used in the rites of various religions

• Acehnese: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: kem (sq) m
• Arabic: بَخُور‎ (ar) m (baḵūr), بُخُور‎ (ar) m (buḵūr)

  Egyptian Arabic: بخور‎ m (baḵūr)

• Armenian: խունկ (hy) (xunk), ծխանելիք (hy) (cxanelikʿ)
• Asturian: inciensu m
• Azerbaijani: buxur
• Belarusian: ла́дан m (ládan), фімія́м m (fimijám), кадзі́ла n (kadzíla) (incense burner)
• Bengali: ধূপ (dhup)
• Bulgarian: тамя́н (bg) m (tamján)
• Burmese: အမွှေး (my) (a.hmwe:)
• Catalan: encens (ca) m
• Chakma: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 香 (hoeng¹)

  Mandarin: 香 (zh) (xiāng)

• Corsican: incensu, encensu
• Czech: kadidlo (cs) n
• Danish: røgelse c, virak (da) c (dated)
• Dutch: wierook (nl) m
• Dzongkha: སྤོས (spos)
• Egyptian: (snṯr m)
• Emilian: please add this translation if you can
• Esperanto: incenso (eo)
• Estonian: viiruk
• Faroese: roykilsi n
• Finnish: suitsuke (fi)
• French: encens (fr) m
• Friulian: incens m
• Galician: incenso (gl) m
• Georgian: საკმეველი (saḳmeveli)
• German: Weihrauch (de) m, Räuchwerk n (archaic)
• Greek: λιβάνι (el) n (liváni)

  Ancient: θυμίαμα n (thumíama)

• Hawaiian: heona
• Hebrew: קטורת / קְטֹרֶת‎ (he) f (któret)
• Hindi: अगरबत्ती (hi) f (agarbattī)
• Hungarian: tömjén (hu)
• Icelandic: reykelsi (is) n
• Ido: incenso (io)
• Indonesian: kemenyan (id), dupa (id)
• Irish: túis f
• Italian: incenso (it) m, olibano m
• Japanese: 薫香 (ja) (くんこう, kunkō), 香 (ja) (こう, kō)
• Javanese: please add this translation if you can
• Kazakh: ладан (ladan)
• Khmer: ធូប (km) (thuup)
• Korean: 향(香) (ko) (hyang)
• Lao: ທູບ (thūp), ກຳຍານ (kam nyān)
• Latin: thūs n, suffīmen n, thȳmiāma n
• Latvian: vīraks (lv) m
• Ligurian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: smilkalai m pl
• Lombard: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: темјан m (temjan), благомирис m (blagomiris)
• Malay: dupa
• Maltese: inċens m, bħur m
• Maori: whakakakara
• Mon: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: сан (mn) (san)

  Mongolian: ᠰᠠᠩ (saŋ)

• Norman: enchens m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: virak (no) m, røkelse m, røykelse m

  Nynorsk: virak m, røykjelse m

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: ѳѵмїамъ m (θümiamŭ), темьꙗнъ m (temĭjanŭ), кадило n (kadilo)

• Old East Slavic: темьанъ m (temĭanŭ), ладанъ m (ladanŭ), кадило n (kadilo)
• Old English: rēcels m, onāl n
• Oromo: qayya
• Pali: dhūpa
• Persian: عود‎ (fa) ('ud), بخور‎ (fa) (boxur)
• Piedmontese: please add this translation if you can
• Plautdietsch: Ruakstoff n, Weiruak n
• Polish: kadzidło (pl) n
• Portuguese: incenso (pt) m
• Rakhine: please add this translation if you can
• Rohingya: please add this translation if you can
• Romagnol: incéns m, inzéns m
• Romanian: tămâie (ro) f
• Russian: ла́дан (ru) m (ládan), фимиа́м (ru) m (fimiám), темья́н (ru) m (temʹján), кади́ло (ru) n (kadílo) (incense burner)
• Sanskrit: धूप (sa) m (dhūpa)
• Sardinian: timagna f, timanza f, timonza f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: та̀мјан m

  Roman: tàmjan (sh) m

• Slovak: kadidlo n
• Slovene: kadilo (sl) n
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: incienso (es) m, sahumerio (es) m, sahumo m
• Swahili: ubani (sw)
• Swedish: rökelse (sv) c (virak (sv) c)
• Tagalog: dupa
• Tajik: бухур (buxur)
• Ternate: dupa
• Thai: กำยาน (th) (gam-yaan), ธูป (th) (tûup)
• Tibetan: སྤོས (spos)
• Turkish: tütsü (tr)
• Ukrainian: ла́дан m (ládan), фіміа́м m (fimiám), кади́ло (uk) n (kadýlo) (incense burner), ку́риво n (kúryvo)
• Urdu: بخور‎ (buxūr)
• Uzbek: ladan
• Vietnamese: hương (vi) (香), nhang (vi)
• Welsh: thus m, arogldarth m
• Wolof: cuuraay
• Yiddish: קטורת‎ f (któyres)

Verb

incense (third-person singular simple present incenses, present participle incensing, simple past and past participle incensed)

1. (transitive) To anger or infuriate.

   I think it would incense him to learn the truth.

2. (archaic) To incite, stimulate.
3. (transitive) To offer incense to.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)

4. (transitive) To perfume with, or as with, incense.
   • c. 1603 (date written), Iohn Marston, The Malcontent, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for William Aspley, […], published 1604, OCLC 1224733829, Act III, scene ii:

     To haue her bound, incenſed with wanton ſweetes, / Her vaines fild hie with heating delicates, / […] / O Ithaca can chaſteſt Penelope hold out.

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, OCLC 1026761782, (please specify the book or page number):

     Neither, for the future, shall any man or woman, self-styled noble, be incensed,—foolishly fumigated with incense, in Church; as the wont has been.

5. (obsolete) To set on fire; to inflame; to kindle; to burn.
   • [1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, OCLC 614803194; The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], volume (please specify the book number), new edition, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, OCLC 987451361:

     Twelve Trojan princes wait on thee, and labour to incense / Thy glorious heap of funeral.

Translations

anger, infuriate

• Bulgarian: вбеся́вам (bg) (vbesjávam), разяря́вам (bg) (razjarjávam)
• Dutch: vertoornen (nl), de woede opwekken van
• Finnish: raivostuttaa (fi)
• German: empören (de), erzürnen (de), aufbringen (de)
• Greek: θυμιατίζω (el) (thymiatízo)
• Russian: серди́ть (ru) impf (serdítʹ), рассерди́ть (ru) pf (rasserdítʹ), беси́ть (ru) impf (besítʹ), взбеси́ть (ru) pf (vzbesítʹ), разъяря́ть (ru) impf (razʺjarjátʹ), разъяри́ть (ru) pf (razʺjarítʹ), разгне́вать (ru) pf (razgnévatʹ), разозли́ть (ru) pf (razozlítʹ)

Anagrams

• Nicenes

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Latin

Participle

incēnse

1. vocative masculine singular of incēnsus

References

• “incense”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• incense in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• incense in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• “incense”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “incense”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers