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Glite Dictionary
costus oil

costus oil

9.5
A yellow oil taken from the root of the costus plant and used in perfumes for its earthy scent
  • noun
  • Specialized
: aceite de costus
  • Some luxury fragrances rely on costus oil for their distinctive earthy and musky undertones.

Examples

  • The extraction of costus oil from the plant’s root requires special distillation methods.

  • Perfume makers value costus oil for its lasting aroma and blending properties.

  • I love the scent of costus oil in my perfume.

  • Many perfumes contain costus oil for its unique fragrance.

  • Perfume makers value costus oil for its lasting aroma and blending properties.

  • Some luxury fragrances rely on costus oil for their distinctive earthy and musky undertones.

  • Many perfumes contain costus oil for its unique fragrance.

Surface Forms

costus oil singular
costus oils plural

Morphology

costus + oil

This is a simple noun-noun compound where 'oil' denotes a substance extracted from the named source; given knowledge of 'costus' the phrase transparently means the oil derived from the costus plant (parallel to coconut oil, olive oil). Although 'costus' is a rare lexical item, the compositional pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Costus oil gets its name from the plant costus, whose root was boiled or pressed to make a fragrant oil. So imagine digging up the root and collecting its strong scent, and you can see why it means 'a perfume ingredient' used for its lasting smell.