smell

👃

Meaning

1. A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
2. The sense that detects odours.
3. A conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or otherwise inappropriate.

odor

sense of smell

give off an odour

smell bad

bad smell

be fragrant

olfactory modality

olfactory perception

give out a smell

olfactory property

olfactory sensation

sniff around

smell at

bad-smelling

be aware

be bright

be conscious of

body odor

call to mind

reek of

smack of

smell high

smell strong

sniff out

stinky

get an inkling

strong odor

strong odour

pungent taste

air

fear

😨

good smell

be rank

catch the smell

give off a bad odor

have an unpleasant odour

reek to high heaven

smell up

stink to high heaven

stink up

perceive by smell

touch with the mouth

reach one’s nostrils

get a whiff

osmesis

osphresis

perceive an odour

smell fetid

smell putrid

have an odor

osphreris

become aware

be off

fresh fish

olfactory sense

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/smɛl/

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)meld- Proto-West Germanic *smalljan Old English *smiellan Middle English smellen English smell From Middle English smellen, smillen, smyllen, smullen, from Old English *smyllan, *smiellan (“to smell, emit fumes”), from Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (“to glow, burn, smoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *smel- (“to burn, smoke, smoulder; tar, pitch”). The noun is from Middle English smel, smil, smul (“smell, odour”). Related to Saterland Frisian smeele (“to smoulder”), Middle Dutch smōlen (“to burn, smoulder”) (whence Dutch smeulen (“to smoulder”)), Middle Low German smölen (“to be hazy, be dusty”) (whence Low German smölen (“smoulder”)), Low German smullen (“emit smoke”), West Flemish smoel (“stuffy, muggy, hazy”), Danish smul (“dust, powder”), Lithuanian smilkyti (“to incense, fumigate”), Lithuanian smilkti (“to smudge, smolder, fume, reek”), Lithuanian smalkinti (“to fume”), Middle Irish smál, smól, smúal (“fire, gleed, embers, ashes”), Russian смола́ (smolá, “resin, tar”). Compare smoulder, smother.