Phrase guide

essential oil

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A volatile oil, used to make perfumes and flavorings, especially one having the characteristic odor of the plant from which it is obtained.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an oil having the odor or flavor of the plant from which it comes; used in perfume and flavorings

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: volatile oil

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: oil

Narrower terms: ilang-ilang, bitter almond oil, attar, atar, athar, ottar, clove oil, oil of cloves, costus oil, eucalyptus oil, turpentine, oil of turpentine, spirit of turpentine, turps, wormwood oil, absinthe oil, linalool

History

Etymology

Containing the essence of the plant's fragrance.

Across languages

Translations

28 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: եթերային յուղ (etʻerayin yuġ) — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Catalan: oli essencial — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Chinese Mandarin: 精油 (jīngyóu) — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Danish: æterisk olie — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Dutch: etherische olie — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Estonian: eeterlik õli — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Finnish: eteerinen öljy — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • French: huile essentielle — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Georgian: ეთერზეთი (eterzeti) — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • German: ätherisches Öl — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Greek: αιθέριο έλαιο (aithério élaio) — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Hungarian: illóolaj — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Italian: essenza — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Japanese: 精油 (seiyu) — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Japanese: エッセンシャルオイル (essensharu oiru) — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Korean: 정유 (jeong'yu) — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Latvian: ēteriskā eļļa — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Lithuanian: eterinis aliejus — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Polish: olejek eteryczny — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Portuguese: óleo essencial — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Romanian: ulei esențial — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Russian: эфи́рное ма́сло (efírnoje máslo) — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Slovak: éterický olej — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Slovak: esenciálny olej — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Spanish: aceite esencial — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Swedish: eterisk olja — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Thai: น้ํามันหอมระเหย (nám-man-hɔ̌ɔm-rá-hə̌əi) — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings
  • Vietnamese: tinh dầu — volatile oil used to make perfumes and flavourings