santon

Borrowed from French santon, from Spanish santón.

santon (plural santons)

1. A Muslim holy man.
   • 1818, John Keats, "To J. H. Reynolds, Esq.":

     Part of the building was a chosen see, / Built by a banished santon of Chaldee [...].

2. In France (originally Provence), a small, hand-painted, terracotta figurine of a nativity character.
   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber 1992, p. 49:

     Also we had brought a huge family of little santons of painted terracotta for the crêche.

• annots., nantos, non-TAS, sonant, stanno-