fragrance

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French fragrance, from Middle French fragrance, from Old French fraglance, from Late Latin frāgrantia. See fragrant.

Pronunciation

• enPR: frāʹ-grən(t)s, IPA^(key): /ˈfɹeɪɡɹən(t)s/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (obsolete) enPR: frăʹ-grəns, IPA^(key): /ˈfɹæ.ɡɹəns/

Noun

fragrance (countable and uncountable, plural fragrances)

1. A pleasant smell or odour.

   Synonym: aroma

   • 2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better‎^[1], Plum, →ISBN, page 192:

     You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.

2. A perfume.
   • 1987 October, Timothy Kalich, “Marketing: What's in a Smell?”, in The Atlantic‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Today, sales of women's fragrances are double those of men's, and 80 percent of all men's after-shaves and colognes are in fact bought by women, as gifts.

Derived terms

• fragranceless
• fragrancy
• microfragrance

Translations

pleasant smell or odour

• Albanian: aromë (sq) f
• Arabic: أَرِيج m (ʔarīj), عَبِير m (ʕabīr), شَذًا m (šaḏan), عِطْر m (ʕiṭr)
• Armenian: բույր (hy) (buyr), անուշահոտություն (hy) (anušahotutʻyun), բուրմունք (hy) (burmunkʻ)
• Belarusian: во́дар (be) m (vódar), арама́т m (aramát), пах m (pax)
• Bengali: খোশবু (bn) (khośbu), মহক (bn) (mohok)
• Bulgarian: благоуха́ние (bg) n (blagouhánie), уха́ние (bg) n (uhánie), арома́т (bg) m (aromát)
• Burmese: ရနံ့ (my) (ra.nam.), အမွှေး (my) (a.hmwe:)
• Catalan: perfum (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 香味 (hoeng¹ mei⁶), 芬芳 (fan¹ fong¹), 香氣 / 香气 (hoeng¹ hei³)

  Hokkien: 芳味 (zh-min-nan) (phang-bī), 芳氣 / 芳气 (phang-khì)

  Literary Chinese: 馥, 馨香 (xīnxiāng), 馝 (bì), 馞 (bó)

  Mandarin: 香味 (zh) (xiāngwèi), 芬芳 (zh) (fēnfāng), 香氣 / 香气 (zh) (xiāngqì), 芳味 (zh) (fāngwèi), 芳氣 / 芳气 (zh) (fāngqì), 芬郁 (zh) (fēnyù), 芳澤 / 芳泽 (zh) (fāngzé), 芬香 (zh) (fēnxiāng)

• Czech: vůně (cs) f
• Danish: duft (da) c
• Dutch: aroma (nl) n
• Esperanto: bonodoro
• Estonian: aroom, lõhn
• Finnish: tuoksu (fi)
• French: parfum (fr) m, fragrance (fr) f
• Galician: fragrancia (gl) f, cheirume m, recendo (gl) m, arume (gl) m
• Georgian: არომატი (aromaṭi), სურნელება (surneleba)
• German: Duft (de) m, Duftnote (de) f
• Greek: άρωμα (el) n (ároma), ευωδιά (el) f (evodiá)
• Hebrew: נִיחוֹחַ (he) m (niḥóaḥ)
• Hindi: इत्र (hi) (itra), अतर (hi) (atar), महक (hi) f (mahak), गंध (hi) f (gandh), सुगंध (hi) f (sugandh), ख़ुशबू f (xuśbū)
• Hungarian: illat (hu)
• Iban: angit
• Icelandic: ilmur (is) m
• Ilocano: banglo
• Italian: profumo (it) m
• Japanese: 香り (ja) (かおり, kaori), 香気 (ja) (こうき, kōki)
• Kapampangan: banglu
• Khmer: គន្ធ (km) (kʊəntʰɔɔ), គន្ធជាត (kʊəntʰeaʔciet)
• Korean: 향기(香氣) (ko) (hyanggi)
• Lao: ຄັນທະ (khan tha)
• Latvian: aromāts m, smarža f
• Lithuanian: aromatas m, kvepėjimas m
• Macedonian: ми́рис (mk) m (míris), а́рома f (ároma)
• Malay: wangian (ms)
• Maori: kakara
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: duft (no) m, aroma (no), godlukt

• Old Church Slavonic: благоѫханиѥ n (blagoǫxanije)
• Old English: æþelstenċ m, wyrtbrǣþ m
• Persian: عطر (fa) ('atr)
• Polish: woń (pl) f, zapach (pl) m
• Portuguese: fragrância (pt) f, perfume (pt) m, cheiro (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਖੁਸ਼ਬੂ f (khuśbū), ਸੁਗੰਧ (pa) f (sugandh)
• Russian: арома́т (ru) m (aromát), благоуха́ние (ru) n (blagouxánije)
• Sanskrit: गन्ध (sa) m (gandha)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: арома f

  Roman: aroma (sh) f

• Slovak: vôňa f
• Slovene: vonjava f
• Spanish: fragancia (es) f, aroma (es) m, fragrancia (es) f (disused)
• Swedish: doft (sv) c, vällukt (sv) c, arom (sv) c, vällukt (sv) c, arom (sv) c
• Tagalog: bango
• Tamil: மணம் (ta) (maṇam), நறுமணம் (ta) (naṟumaṇam), நறுநாற்றம் (ta) (naṟunāṟṟam)
• Tetum: morin
• Thai: กลิ่นหอม (glìn-hŏm)
• Turkish: koku (tr), güzel koku, rayiha (tr)
• Ukrainian: арома́т (uk) m (aromát)
• Vietnamese: mùi thơm, hương thơm (vi), hương vị (vi)

perfume — see perfume

Verb

fragrance (third-person singular simple present fragrances, present participle fragrancing, simple past and past participle fragranced)

1. (transitive) To apply a fragrance to; to perfume.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin fragrantia, from fragrō, fragrāre. Related to flairer, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fʁa.ɡʁɑ̃s/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

fragrance f (plural fragrances)

1. a fragrance, a pleasurable smell

Further reading

• “fragrance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.