copal

American  

[koh-puhl, -pal] / ˈkoʊ pəl, -pæl /

noun

• copals
  plural

1. a hard, lustrous resin obtained from various tropical trees and used chiefly in making varnishes.

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copal British  

/ ˈkəʊpəl, -pæl /

noun

1. a hard aromatic resin, yellow, orange, or red in colour, obtained from various tropical trees and used in making varnishes and lacquers

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• copals
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of copal

1570–80; < Mexican Spanish < Nahuatl copalli

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

copal copals

The scent of copal, a tree resin used by Mesoamerican cultures for spiritual, medicinal and practical rituals, wafts through the space.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2024

Still, copal can be up to 3 million years old.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 22, 2024

The smell of traditional resinous copal incense hung heavy over the parade.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 4, 2023

She broke it down to me: how I had to heat the charcoal and burn the copal over it, how it was meant to cleanse my space and stimulate my energy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2022

“It’s only the copal incense we burn for the dead,” Consuela said.

From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer

From the copals there oozes, by the holes which certain insects make, an odorous gum, which runs along the ground and collects for the wants of the natives.

From Dick Sand A Captain at Fifteen by Jules Verne

A stranger might have thought, when I spoke of those copals Rose carved, that Rose was some girl.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 27, January, 1860 by Various

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