Meanings
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe sense of smell; the detection of airborne molecules.
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Opposite
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe faculty that enables us to distinguish scents
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Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinolfactus
- Middle Frencholfaction /olefaction
- Englisholfaction
Borrowed from Middle French olfaction /olefaction, from Latin olfactus, perfect passive participle of olfaciō (“to smell (transitive)”) + -tion.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic شَمّ
- شَمّ (šamm)the sense of smell
Basque usaimen
- usaimenthe sense of smell
Bulgarian обоня́ние, нюх
- обоня́ние (obonjánie)the sense of smell
- нюх (njuh)the sense of smell
Catalan olfacte, olfacció
- olfactethe sense of smell
- olfaccióthe sense of smell
Chinese Cantonese 嗅覺 /嗅觉
- 嗅覺 /嗅觉 (cau³ gok³)the sense of smell
Chinese Mandarin 嗅覺 /嗅觉
- 嗅覺 /嗅觉 (xiùjué)the sense of smell
Czech čich
- čichthe sense of smell
Dutch reukzin
- reukzinthe sense of smell
Esperanto flarsenso
- flarsensothe sense of smell
Finnish hajuaisti, haistaminen
- hajuaistithe sense of smell
- haistaminenthe sense of smell
- hajuthe sense of smell
French olfaction, odorat
- olfactionthe sense of smell
- odoratthe sense of smell
German Geruchssinn, Geruch
- Geruchssinnthe sense of smell
- Geruchthe sense of smell
Greek όσφρησις
- όσφρησις (ósfrisis)the sense of smell
Hindi गंधानुभूति
- गंधानुभूति (gandhānubhūti)the sense of smell
Hungarian szaglás
- szaglásthe sense of smell
Italian olfatto, odorato
- olfattothe sense of smell
- odoratothe sense of smell
Japanese 嗅覚
- 嗅覚 (kyūkaku)the sense of smell
Korean 후각
- 후각 (hugak)the sense of smell
Latin olfactus
- olfactusthe sense of smell
Latvian oža
- ožathe sense of smell
Lithuanian uoslė
- uoslėthe sense of smell
Norwegian Bokmål luktesans
- luktesansthe sense of smell
Persian بویایی
- بویاییthe sense of smell
Polish węch
- węchthe sense of smell
Portuguese olfato, faro
- olfatothe sense of smell
- farothe sense of smell
Romanian miros
- mirosthe sense of smell
Russian обоня́ние, нюх
- обоня́ние (obonjánije)the sense of smell
- нюх (njux)the sense of smell
Slovak čuch
- čuchthe sense of smell
Spanish olfato
- olfatothe sense of smell
Swedish luktsinne, lukt
- luktsinnethe sense of smell
- luktthe sense of smell
Turkish koku alma duyusu, koku duyusu
- koku alma duyusuthe sense of smell
- koku duyusuthe sense of smell
- olfaksiyonthe sense of smell
Ukrainian нюх
- нюх (njux)the sense of smell
Vietnamese khứu giác
- khứu giácthe sense of smell
Cite this entry
APA
olfaction. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/olfaction
MLA
“olfaction.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/olfaction. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “olfaction,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/olfaction.
Source: olfaction on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.