noun
- the hard, light-colored, closegrained, sweet-smelling heartwood of any of several allied trees of Asia, used for carving and cabinetmaking or burned as incense; esp., the wood of a S Asian evergreen tree (Santalum album) of the sandalwood family
- any tree yielding such wood
- any of a number of similar or related trees
- the wood of any of these
Origin:
sandal, sandalwood < ME sandell < MFr sandal < ML sandalum < LGr santalon < Ar ṣandal, ult. < Sans candana < IE base *kand-, to gleam, bright > L candere, to shine
adjective
designating a family (Santalaceae, order Santalales) of dicotyledonous plants, shrubs, and trees including the quandong