noun
General term for wax, including natural waxes like beeswax and synthetic waxes. Used in compounds such as ろうそく (candle) and ろう付け (brazing).
このろうは蜜蝋から作られています。
This wax is made from beeswax.
家具にろうを塗って磨いた。
I applied wax to the furniture and polished it.
Standard kanji spelling. Used in compounds like 蝋燭 (ろうそく, candle).
The kanji 蝋 is a phono-semantic compound: 虫 (insect) + 羅 (phonetic). The reading ろう is the on'yomi. The word originally referred to insect-derived wax.