smell
/smɛl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.49 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or otherwise inappropriate.
Countable; Uncountable
verb
Followed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad.
Intransitive verb
verb
Followed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad.
Intransitive verb
verb
Followed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad.
Intransitive verb
Example Sentences
- "I love the smell of fresh bread."
- "The penetrating smell of cabbage reached the nose of Toad as he lay prostrate in his misery on the floor, and gave him the idea for a moment that perhaps life was not such a blank and desperate thing as he had imagined. But still he wailed, and kicked with his legs, and refused to be comforted. So the wise girl retired for the time, but, of course, a good deal of the smell of hot cabbage remained behind, as it will do, and Toad, between his sobs, sniffed and reflected, and gradually began to think new and inspiring thoughts: of chivalry, and poetry[…]"
- "In this interest we used the survey to obtain unique data about the memory-evoking power of smell. We found that the stronger the odor, the more likely it was to bring to mind a vivid memory."
- "I’m just saying, this has a bad smell to it."
- "I can smell fresh bread."
- "Smell the milk and tell me whether it's gone off."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *smel-der. 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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /smɛl/
- British English: /smɛl/