An Essential Oil Glossary of Aromatic Terms
Understanding the Terms Used to Describe Oils in Aromatherapy
Jul 15, 2009
Essential oils are commonly used in aromatherapy to treat a number of health related problems; reading essential oil profiles helps to identify a particular essential oil to use for a particular problem. However, often the language used to describe essential oils is complicated and can be difficult to understand due to the fact that the chemistry of essential oils is complex; often an essential oil glossary can help to understand the properties and descriptions of essential of oils.
A Glossary of the Properties of Essential Oils
Some of the following terms are used to describe the properties of essential oils; this list is not exhaustive:
- antiseptic – an essential oil which is capable of preventing infection
- anti-inflammatory – an essential oil which helps ease inflammation
- anti-viral – an essential oil which prevents the growth of a virus
- aphrodisiac – an essential oil capable of increasing sexual desire
- astringent – an essential oil which can cause contraction of organic tissue
- bactericidal – an essential oil which can help to prevent the growth of bacteria
- calmative – a sedative essential oil
- carminative – an essential oil which calms the digestive system
- cicatrisant – an essential oil which helps to heal scar tissue
- decongestive – an essential oil capable of reducing congestion
- deodorant – an essential oil capable of relieving unpleasant smells
- digestive – an essential oil which aids the digestive system
- diuretic – an essential oil which increases the need to urinate more frequently
- emmenagogue- an essential oil which aids menstruation
- expectorant – an essential oil which can help remove mucus from the respiratory system
- insecticide – an essential oil which repels insects
- nervine – an essential oil which strengthens the nervous system
- phototoxic/photosensitive – an essential oil which is capable of increasing a person's risk to ultra-violet light, most commonly associated with sunlight
- stimulant – an essential which speeds up the physiological body functions
- tonic – an essential oil which strengthens specific parts of the body.
A Glossary of the Terms Used to Describe Essential Oils
Descriptions of essential oils often contain a number of aromatherapy terms too; some of the terms used to describe essential oils include:
- anisic – an essential oil which identifies with, for example, the odor of aniseed
- balsamic – an essential oil which identifies with the characteristics of balsam/resins
- camphoraceous – an essential oil which has a clean, medicinal odor
- citrus – an essential oil of odors of lemons, oranges and lime
- floral – an essential oil which has an odor of flowers
- green- an essential oil which has an odor of grass
- herbaceous – an essential oil which has an odor of herbs
- leather – an essential oil which has a musky odor of tobacco
- spicy – an essential oil which identifies with, for example, the odor of cinnamon
- sweet – an essential oil which has a odor of that similar to vanilla and strawberry, for example
- woody – an essential oil which has an odor of wood.
Understanding Essential Oil Terms
Learning to understand essential oil terms with an essential oil glossary can help in the correct use of essential oils; the language used with essential oils and aromatherapy is complex but taking the time to understand the terms used in descriptions of essential oils and in the properties of essential oils prevents the potential misuse of essential oils.
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