palo santo

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish palo santo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑloʊ ˈsɑntəʊ/

Noun

palo santo (plural palo santos or palos santos)

1. (US) A medium-sized deciduous tree indigenous to the tropical dry forests of Central and South America, Bursera graveolens or Gonopterodendron sarmientoi, known for its sweet scent.
   • 1947, Industrial Reference Service - Volume 5, Part 2, page 2:

     Palo santo oil is the product of Bulnesia sarmienti , which is known as palo santo ( holy wood ) to the Paraguayans.

   • 2017, Rodika Tchi, The Healing Power of Smudging:

     The cleansing power of palo santo wood comes with a sense of sweet blessings and nourishment; it clears the negative vibrations and brings forth a healing quality of energy to your home.

   • 2017, Kac Young, The Healing Art of Essential Oils:

     Palo santo helps support the immune system by turning off inflammatory responses created by a poor diet, pollution, stress, and illness.

   • 2021, Sara L. Mastros, The Big Book of Magical Incense:

     Palo santo (Bursera graveolens or Bulnesia sarmienti) is a critically overharvested plant native to South and Central America, closely related to frankincense.

   • 2021, Sam Calagione, Mariah Calagione, Andrew C. Greeley, The Dogfish Head Book: 26 Years of Off-Centered Adventures, page 153:

     We fell in love with the Palo Santo so much that we commissioned John to return to Paraguay and harvest more of this sustainably harvested Palo Santo wood and ship it back to us on a container boat.

   • 2022, Shellie Pomeroy, Natural Tables, page 107:

     Palo santo, known for its cleansing energy, is lovely to have on hand for adding a sweet healing aroma to the air.

Usage notes

Native English usage, as distinguished from descriptions of local occurrences of Latin America, seems to consist primarily of esoteric circles employing incense sticks, and yerba mate drinkers having their gourds made of wood, so it uses to be not clear with species it refers to, but in this fashion all source language meanings may apply.

Spanish

Alternative forms

• palosanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌpalo ˈsanto/ [ˌpa.lo ˈsãn̪.t̪o]
• Syllabification: pa‧lo san‧to

Noun

palo santo m (plural palos santos)

1. guaiacwood, holywood lignumvitae (Guaiacum sanctum and trees and wood of other species of genus Guaiacum
2. Gonopterodendron sarmientoi, until recently called Bulnesia sarmientoi
3. Bursera graveolens
4. Diospyros spp.
   • 1994, Frans Geilfus, El árbol al servicio del agricultor: manual de agroforestería para el desarrollo rural. Volumen 2. Guía de especies‎^[1], Turrialba, Costa Rica, page 77:

     Diospyros kaki … palo santo … También se usa como patrón el palo santo de Virginia (Diospyros virginiana) y el palo santo chino (Diospyros lotus).

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

5. (Argentina, dated) Dasyphyllum diacanthoides, earlier called Flotovia diacanthoides

   Synonyms: palo blanco, trevo

6. (obsolete, Philippines) santol, apparently a phono-semantic matching of Tagalog santol (Sandoricum ternatum syn. Sandoricum vidalii and Sandoricum venosum, Sandoricum koetjape)
7. (obsolete, Jalisco) Diphysa suberosa
8. (obsolete, Puebla) Fouquieria formosa
9. (Chile) Weinmannia trichosperma
10. (possibly obsolete, a plant that only exists in central Chile) Porlieria higrometrica
11. (one rare species within its genus found in Puerto Rico) Ocotea foeniculacea

Descendants

• → Arabic: خَشَب القَدِّيسِين (ḵašab al-qaddīsīn) (calque)
• → English: palo santo

Further reading

• “palo santo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28