fragrance

Word family

• fragrant
  adjectiveB1
• fragranced
  adjectiveB2
• fragrantly
  adverbC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe smells, but they differ in what kind of smell is being described. Fragrance is always pleasant and often suggests a natural or carefully crafted smell — like flowers, baked goods, or a high-quality soap. Scent is the most neutral term: it can be pleasant or not ('the scent of rain' vs 'the scent of a wild animal'), and it is often used for light or subtle smells. Aroma is almost exclusively used for food and drink — coffee, wine, bread, spices — and is very common in restaurant reviews and cooking contexts. Perfume overlaps with the second sense of fragrance (a manufactured liquid), but as a general smell word it suggests something sweet, strong, and deliberately made. Odour is the odd one out: in modern English it is nearly always negative and suggests something stale, unpleasant, or medically concerning. If you are describing a bakery, use aroma or fragrance. If you are describing a flower in a garden, fragrance or scent works best. If you want to say something smells bad, stick with odour — never fragrance.

Common collocations

Etymology

The word entered English in the mid-1500s from French 'fragrance', which came from Latin 'fragrantia' meaning 'a sweet smell'. The Latin root 'fragrare' meant 'to smell sweet'. The word has always carried a positive meaning — English speakers have used it for pleasant natural and manufactured scents alike for nearly 500 years.