wintergreen oil

5.8

A fragrant oil from wintergreen leaves used to flavor toothpaste and ease muscle aches

noun
/ˈwɪntərˌɡrin ɔɪl/

: aceite de gaulteria

Many people enjoy the minty flavor of wintergreen oil in candies and gum.

The compound in Wintergreen oil was actually remade chemically, and that's to do what today's aspirin is.

Examples

Doctors recommend wintergreen oil for its soothing properties in muscle ointments.
wintergreen oil is used to ease sore muscles and should not be ingested.
The compound in Wintergreen oil was actually remade chemically, and that's to do what today's aspirin is.

Dr. Josh Axe

Synonyms

oil of wintergreen

vswintergreen oil

Specialized

1 7.5

An oil from a small plant that smells strong and flavors foods and soothes pain

highlights a fragrant extract obtained from leaves rather than plant variety

How Fragrant

essential oil

14 3.7

wintergreen oil

5.8

fragrant

34 2.2

Surface Forms

wintergreen oil singular

wintergreen oils plural

Morphology

wintergreen + oil

The meaning is directly compositional: 'wintergreen' names the plant and 'oil' names a plant-derived liquid, so the phrase denotes oil made from the wintergreen plant. This plant-name + product pattern is common cross-linguistically and follows a standard English noun–noun composition that a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer.

Etymology

Wintergreen oil gets its name from a small plant called wintergreen that stays green even in winter. People crushed its leaves to make a strong-smelling oil, so the name now means 'a fragrant oil from the wintergreen plant' used for 'flavoring' and 'medicine'.