odor

See also: odôr and odør

English

Alternative forms

• odour

Etymology

From Middle English odour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman odour, from Old French odor, from Latin odor.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊ.də/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊ.dɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊdə(r)
• Homophone: oater (some dialects)

Noun

odor (countable and uncountable, plural odors)

1. Any smell, whether fragrant or offensive; scent; perfume.
   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X

     Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing. Yet oddly enough I found here a far more unlikely substance, and that was camphor. I found it in a sealed jar, that, by chance, I supposed had been really hermetically sealed. I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odour of camphor was unmistakable.

2. (figuratively) A strong, pervasive quality.
3. (figuratively, uncountable) Esteem; repute.

Usage notes

In the United States, the term odor often has a negative connotation. Preferred terms for a pleasant odor are "fragrance", "scent", and "aroma".

Synonyms

• (any smell): perfume, scent
• (esteem): esteem, repute
• See also Thesaurus:smell

Derived terms

• odorous
• odorously
• odorousness

Translations

any smell — see odour

strong, pervasive quality

• Cherokee: ᎦᏩᏒᎩ (gawasvgi)
• Finnish: ominaispiirre (fi)

• Norwegian: odør m, stank m, lukt (no)

esteem, repute

• Finnish: maine (fi)

See also

• aroma

Anagrams

• Rood, door, ordo, rood

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Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈdor/, [oˈd̪or̺]
• Stress: odór
• Hyphenation: o‧dor

Noun

odor m (invariable)

1. Apocopic form of odore

Anagrams

• doro, d'oro, dorò, ordo, rodo, rodò

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Latin

Alternative forms

• odōs

Etymology

Via rhotacism from Old Latin odōs (plural: odōses), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed-.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈo.dor/, [ˈɔ.dɔr]

Noun

odor m (genitive odōris); third declension

1. A smell, perfume, stench.
2. (figuratively) Inkling, suggestion.

Inflection

Third declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	odor	odōrēs
Genitive	odōris	odōrum
Dative	odōrī	odōribus
Accusative	odōrem	odōrēs
Ablative	odōre	odōribus
Vocative	odor	odōrēs

Derived terms

• odōrō
• odōror

Descendants

• Asturian: golor
• Catalan: olor
• Czech: odér
• English: odor, odour
• French: odeur
• Friulian: odôr, nulôr
• Italian: odore
• Occitan: odor, olor

• Portuguese: odor
• Romanian: urdoare
• Romansh: odur, udur, odour
• Sicilian: oluri, uduri
• Spanish: olor
• Swedish: odör
• Venetian: odor, udor

References

• odor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• odor in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• odor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• odor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • with incense and perfumes: ture et odoribus incensis
    
  • the perfume exhaled by flowers: odores, qui efflantur e floribus
    
  • there are whispers of the appointment of a dictator: non nullus odor est dictaturae (Att. 4. 18)
    

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Middle English

Noun

odor

1. Alternative form of odour

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Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese odor (displacing collateral form olor), from Latin odor, odōris, from Old Latin odōs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- (“to smell, stink”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔ.ˈðoɾ/, /o.ˈðoɾ/, /u.ˈðoɾ/
• Hyphenation: o‧dor

Noun

odor m (plural odores)

1. odour; smell

Synonyms

• cheiro, aroma

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Venetian

Alternative forms

• udor

Etymology

From Latin odor, odōrem. Compare Italian odore.

Noun

odor m (plural odori) or odor m (plural oduri)

1. smell, stink