noun
Usage: usually capitalized C
: a white or yellowish white crystalline wax resembling spermaceti but harder, more friable, and higher melting that is deposited on certain trees by a scale ( Ceroplastes ceriferus ) common in China and India or a related scale ( Ericerus pela ) of China and Japan and is used chiefly for making candles, polishing materials, and sizes for paper — called also Chinese insect wax, insect wax