A tropical tree native to the Caribbean and South America, or the resin extracted from it, used medicinally and in varnishes.
From Spanish guayaco, derived from Taíno (Caribbean indigenous language) guayacán. The word traveled from the New World back to Europe in the 16th century.
Guaiac resin was one of the first medicines Europeans obtained from the Americas and was used to treat syphilis before antibiotics, making it an early example of knowledge transfer between continents.
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