Other forms: incensed
Incense is sweet-smelling smoke burned in worship. Burn incense, a stick of incense, the smell of incense.
Frankincense and myrrh are tree resins traded for thousands of years, and both were worth more than gold in the ancient world. The verb incense, stressed on the second syllable, means to enrage, and it is the same word — from being inflamed.
1nounincenseSweet-smelling smoke burned in worship.
“The temple was filled with the sweet smell of burning incense.”
2verbangryTo make somebody very angry.
“The decision to close the library incensed local parents.”
incense is a burnt perfume.
Latin incensum means something burnt, from incendere, to set on fire. The angry sense comes from the same burning.
Latin
incensum — burnt incense
Old French
encens — sweet-smelling substance
Middle English
encens
English, today
incense
Built from
From Middle English encens, from Old French encens (“sweet-smelling substance”) from Latin incensum (“burnt incense”) literally “something burnt”, neuter past participle of incendō (“to set on fire”). Compare incendiary. a doublet of incienso. Displaced native Old English rēcels.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA