moxa

Meaning

Noun

• Dried leaves of an Asian species of mugwort, Artemisia argyi (species) as used in moxibustion.
• Any other plant used in moxibustion.

Origin

• From Japanese 艾. The u is not strongly pronounced in Japanese, leading to its disappearance and the devoicing of the plosive. First used by Hermann Buschoff, a Dutch minister in Batavia, who wrote the first book about this remedy in 1674.