joss stick
nounEtymology From joss (“Chinese idol”) + stick.
1
A stick of incense, especially (Taoism, Buddhism, etc.) those burned as an offering before a Chinese shrine.
- For instance, Hawkins, Lewis, Hankin and Sengupta all cover the word agarbatti, an incense stick or joss stick, but there is no way of knowing when this term was first used in Indian English, nor whether it is now current or obsolete.2012, James Lambert, “Beyond Hobson-Jobson: A new lexicography for Indian English”, in World Englishes, page 300: