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Glite Dictionary
🕯️ A hard wax 🌴 A Brazilian palm
carnauba

carnauba

1 9.9
A hard yellow wax made from palm leaves used in polishes, food, and cosmetics
  • noun
  • /kɑrˈnɔːbə/
translation icon : carnauba
  • Carnauba is often used in high-quality carnauba waxes to give a brilliant shine.
  • carnauba wax

Examples

  • Didn't it mean anything to you? ... buffing my buns with carnauba wax?

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Many cosmetics, such as lip balms, include carnauba wax for its moisturizing properties.

  • Ladies, we got some carnauba residue.

    Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)

  • Carnauba wax.

    Point Break (1991)

  • The floor was polished with carnauba wax, giving it a glossy finish.

Synonyms

carnauba wax
vscarnauba
8.1

A hard yellowish wax from a palm used to make surfaces shiny and protect them

is the same meaning but uses a shorter, more compact name

Compounds

carnauba palm
9.3

A Brazilian fan palm with an edible root used for wax and leaf fiber

carnauba wax
8.1

A hard yellowish wax from a palm used to make surfaces shiny and protect them

Surface Forms

carnauba singular
carnaubas plural

Etymology

Carnauba comes from the Brazilian Portuguese name carnaúba, which itself comes from a native Tupi word for a type of palm. So carnauba now means the hard, yellowish 'wax' that comes from that palm's leaves and is used for polishes and food coatings.