Scent  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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1. A distinctive smell.
2. A smell left by an animal that may be used for tracing.
3. The sense of smell.
4. A substance (usually liquid) created to provide a pleasant smell.
5. Any trail or trace that can be followed to find something or someone, such as the paper left behind in a paperchase.

Usage notes

• Although historically the term was applied indifferently to odours of any kind, it is now more often used to refer to pleasant ones (like the terms aroma and fragrance), while odour and smell are more often used for unpleasant ones.

Etymology

From c.1400, from Middle English sent (noun) and senten (verb), from Old French sentir (“to feel, perceive, smell”), from Old French sentire "to feel, perceive, sense", from Latin sentīre, present active infinitive of sentiō. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”), and thus related to Dutch zin (“sense, meaning”), German Sinn (“sense”), Low German Sinn (“sense”), Luxembourgish Sënn (“sense, perception”), Saterland Frisian Sin (“sense”), West Frisian sin (“sense”). The -c- appeared in the 17th century, possibly by influence of ascent, descent, etc., or by influence of science.

See also

• Olfaction