myrrh

From Middle English mirre, from Old English myrre, from Latin myrrha, from Ancient Greek μύρρα (múrrha), from Semitic. Compare Arabic مُرّ (murr, “myrrh”, literally “bitterness”), Hebrew מור / מֹר (mōr, “myrrh”, literally “bitterness”). Compare מרור : maror.

• enPR: mûr, IPA^(key): /mɜɹ/
  • (UK) IPA^(key): [mɜː(ɹ)]
  • (US) IPA^(key): [mɝ]

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
• Homophones: murr, murre

myrrh (usually uncountable, plural myrrhs)

1. A red-brown resinous material, the dried sap of a tree of the species Commiphora myrrha, used as perfume, incense or medicine.
   • 1916, James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Macmillan Press Ltd, paperback, page 98:

     The glories of Mary held his soul captive: spikenard and myrrh and frankincense, symbolising the preciousness of God's gifts to her soul, rich garments, symbolising her royal lineage, her emblems, the lateflowering plant and lateblossoming tree, symbolising the agelong gradual growth of her cultus among men.

2. Synonym of chrism.
3. (Scotland) The herb chervil.

• myrrhic
• myrrhine
• myrrhlike

• myrrh on Wikipedia.Wikipedia