joss stick

noun

1. a slender stick of a dried, fragrant paste, burned by the Chinese as incense before a joss.

joss stick

noun

1. a stick of dried perfumed paste, giving off a fragrant odour when burnt as incense

Word History and Origins

Origin of joss stick¹

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

Swinging luck in one’s favor is paramount in the world’s gambling mecca, which is why the shrine offers a $375 joss stick as thick as a lamp post that takes two people to carry and looks like it needs a flamethrower to ignite.

From Los Angeles Times

A recent escapee from the populist True Finns, she carries no discernible hippy tendencies – not a whiff of joss stick.

From The Guardian

When she first climbs onto the cult’s customized black school bus, she takes everything in: “the floor gridded with Oriental carpets, grayed with dust, the drained tufts of thrift store cushions. The stink of a joss stick in the air, prisms ticking against the windows. Cardboard scrawled with dopey phrases.”

From The New Yorker

Most of those who had traveled here from all parts of the country were too young to remember the ’60s and early ’70s, and it was difficult not to see that the communal-­living experiment, having been largely discredited and left with its chintzy, joss-­stick-­scented reputation, was being revived and pressed into service by a new constituency.

From New York Times

"Aunties and grandmothers burn incense, young people not so much," said the 58-year-old, lighting a joss stick at the Wat Mangkon Kamalawat temple in the heart of Bangkok's Chinatown.

From Reuters