frankincense

From Old French franc encens (“noble incense”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæŋkənˌsɛns/

frankincense (countable and uncountable, plural frankincenses)

1. A type of incense obtained from the Boswellia thurifera tree.
   • 1916 December 29, James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC:

     The glories of Mary held his soul captive : spikenard and myrrh and frankincense, symbolising the preciousness of God's gifts to her soul, rich garments, symbolising her royal lineage, her emblems, the lateflowering plant and lateblossoming tree, symbolising the agelong gradual growth of her cultus among men.

   • 2019, “Keep Moving Don't Move”, in The Book of Traps and Lessons, performed by Kae Tempest:

     Frankincense, Frankenstein, Francophile, Philistine / Frankly, we are killing time

• olibanum

• Jew's frankincense