olibanum
/ɒˈlɪbənəm/
"olibanum" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“olibanum” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense.
Corpus desk
Index EN-olibanum · olibanum · English
olibanum · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "O" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | olibanum |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɒˈlɪbənəm/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “olibanum” in English
Rare enough to double-check
olibanum is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɒˈlɪbənəm/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense.".
Zero misspellings are on record for olibanum in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Medieval Latin olibanum, from Latin oleum libani, the first word meaning oil and the second from Ancient Greek λίβανος (líbanos, “frankincense (Boswellia sacra)”), from a Semitic source, compare Proto-Semitic *laban- (“white”). Cognate with Bi… The correct English form is olibanum, spelled O-L-I-B-A-N-U-M.
Definition
- 1A gum resin from trees of the genus Boswellia, formerly used as a medicine and now mainly as incense.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how olibanum appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Aromatics were used, too, especially in necromancy, and an old recipe of that sort comprises Musk, Myrrh, Frankincense, Red Storax, Mastick, Olibanum, Saffron, Benzoin and Labdanum.
Among the Turks, an exciting compound consists of olibanum, myrrh, camphor, musk, in pulverized form. The resultant perfume is said to affect the genitals.
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin olibanum, from Latin oleum libani, the first word meaning oil and the second from Ancient Greek λίβανος (líbanos, “frankincense (Boswellia sacra)”), from a Semitic source, compare Proto-Semitic *laban- (“white”). Cognate with Biblical Hebrew לְבוֹנָה (l'voná, “frankincense”), Arabic لبان (lubān, “frankincense”). (Compare benzoin for a similar process of metanalysis.) Doublet of oliban.
Synonyms
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.