Meanings
nounperfume (countable and uncountable, plural perfumes)
plural perfumes
- countableuncountableA pleasant smell; the scent, odor, or odoriferous particles emitted from a sweet-smelling substance; a pleasant odor.
Among the Turks, an exciting compound consists of olibanum, myrrh, camphor, musk, in pulverized form. The resultant perfume is said to affect the genitals.
1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 1681 more example
Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.
1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168 - countableuncountableperfumeryA substance created to provide a pleasant smell or one which emits an agreeable odor.
She bought a perfume at the airport.
2 more examples
The market for prestige perfumes is pretty much restricted to what industry economists call “gotrocks ladies”—women in households with annual incomes over $40,000 and who are over forty but still young enough to have a sense of smell (Elizabeth Taylor, for instance).
1987 October, Timothy Kalich, “Marketing: What's in a Smell?”, in The Atlantic, →ISSNThe perfume industry is facing a major problem: maintaining constant levels of quality is crucial, but it is increasingly difficult to obtain a regular supply of all the necessary natural ingredients.
2014 March 7, Nicole Vulser, “Perfume manufacturers must cope with the scarcity of precious supplies”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 190, number 13, page 30
verbperfume (third-person singular simple present perfumes, present participle perfuming, simple past and past participle perfumed)
present singular third person perfumes · participle present perfuming · participle past perfumed · past perfumed
- transitiveTo apply perfume to; to fill or impregnate with a perfume; to scent.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA pleasant smell; the scent, odor, or odoriferous particles emitted from a sweet-smelling substance; a pleasant odor.
nounA substance created to provide a pleasant smell or one which emits an agreeable odor.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Frenchparfum
- Englishperfume
Borrowed from Middle French parfum, perfum. Doublet of parfum.
More words from Middle French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek εὐωδία, μύρον
- εὐωδία (euōdía)pleasant smell
- μύρον (múron)substance providing a pleasant smell
Arabic أَرِيج, عَبِير
- أَرِيج (ʔarīj)pleasant smell
- عَبِير (ʕabīr)pleasant smell
- شَذًا (šaḏan)pleasant smell
- عِطْر (ʕiṭr)pleasant smell
- شَذًى (šaḏan)pleasant smell
- أَرِيج (ʔarīj)substance providing a pleasant smell
- شَذًا (šaḏan)substance providing a pleasant smell
- عِطْر (ʕiṭr)substance providing a pleasant smell
- عَطَّرَ (ʕaṭṭara)to apply perfume to
Bengali সুগন্ধ, খোশবু
- সুগন্ধ (śugondho)pleasant smell
- খোশবু (khōśbu)pleasant smell
- সুগন্ধি (śugondhi)substance providing a pleasant smell
Bulgarian благоуха́ние, арома́т
- благоуха́ние (blagouhánie)pleasant smell
- арома́т (aromát)pleasant smell
- парфю́м (parfjúm)substance providing a pleasant smell
- парфюми́рам (parfjumíram)to apply perfume to
Catalan perfum, perfum
- perfumpleasant smell
- perfumsubstance providing a pleasant smell
Chinese Cantonese 香味, 芬芳
- 香味 (hoeng¹ mei⁶)pleasant smell
- 芬芳 (fan¹ fong¹)pleasant smell
- 香氣 /香气 (hoeng¹ hei³)pleasant smell
- 香水 (hoeng¹ seoi²)substance providing a pleasant smell
Chinese Mandarin 香味, 芬芳
- 香味 (xiāngwèi)pleasant smell
- 芬芳 (fēnfāng)pleasant smell
- 香氣 /香气 (xiāngqì)pleasant smell
- 芳味 (fāngwèi)pleasant smell
- 芳氣 /芳气 (fāngqì)pleasant smell
- 芬郁 (fēnyù)pleasant smell
- 芳澤 /芳泽 (fāngzé)pleasant smell
- 芬香 (fēnxiāng)pleasant smell
- 香水 (xiāngshuǐ)substance providing a pleasant smell
Czech vůně, parfém
- vůněpleasant smell
- parfémsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- voňavkasubstance providing a pleasant smell
- navonětto apply perfume to
- parfémovatto apply perfume to
- naparfémovatto apply perfume to
Danish duft, perfume
- duftpleasant smell
- perfumesubstance providing a pleasant smell
- parfumereto apply perfume to
Dutch parfum, aroma
- parfumpleasant smell
- aromapleasant smell
- parfumsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- parfumerento apply perfume to
Esperanto parfumo, parfumo
- parfumopleasant smell
- parfumosubstance providing a pleasant smell
Estonian lõhnaõli, parfüüm
- lõhnaõlipleasant smell
- parfüümsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- lõhnaõlisubstance providing a pleasant smell
Finnish tuoksu, hajuvesi
- tuoksupleasant smell
- hajuvesisubstance providing a pleasant smell
- hajustesubstance providing a pleasant smell
- hajuainesubstance providing a pleasant smell
- parfyymisubstance providing a pleasant smell
- hajustaato apply perfume to
- parfymoidato apply perfume to
French parfum, fragrance
- parfumpleasant smell
- fragrancepleasant smell
- parfumsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- parfumerto apply perfume to
German Duft, Parfüm
- Duftpleasant smell
- Parfümsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- Duftstoffsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- Parfumsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- parfümierento apply perfume to
Greek άρωμα, ευωδιά
- άρωμα (ároma)pleasant smell
- ευωδιά (evodiá)pleasant smell
- άρωμα (ároma)substance providing a pleasant smell
- αρωματίζω (aromatízo)to apply perfume to
Hebrew בושם, בֹּשֶׂם
- בושםsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- בֹּשֶׂם (bósem)substance providing a pleasant smell
- בישם (bisém)to apply perfume to
Hindi परिमल, इत्र
- परिमल (parimal)pleasant smell
- इत्र (itra)pleasant smell
- अतर (atar)pleasant smell
- महक (mahak)pleasant smell
- सुगंध (sugandh)pleasant smell
- ख़ुशबू (xuśbū)pleasant smell
- ख़ुशबू (xuśbū)substance providing a pleasant smell
Hungarian illat, parfüm
- illatpleasant smell
- parfümsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- illatszersubstance providing a pleasant smell
- illatosítto apply perfume to
- beparfümözto apply perfume to
Icelandic ilmur, ilmvatn
- ilmurpleasant smell
- ilmvatnsubstance providing a pleasant smell
Indonesian semerbak, wangi
- semerbakpleasant smell
- wangipleasant smell
- parfumsubstance providing a pleasant smell
Irish cumhrán
- cumhránsubstance providing a pleasant smell
Italian profumo, profumo
- profumopleasant smell
- profumosubstance providing a pleasant smell
- profumareto apply perfume to
Japanese 香り, 香気
- 香り (kaori)pleasant smell
- 香気 (kōki)pleasant smell
- 香水 (kōsui)substance providing a pleasant smell
Korean 향기, 향수
- 향기 (hyanggi)pleasant smell
- 향수 (hyangsu)substance providing a pleasant smell
Latin odor, unguentum
- odorpleasant smell
- unguentumsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- costumsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- hēdycrumsubstance providing a pleasant smell
Latvian aromāts, smarža
- aromātspleasant smell
- smaržapleasant smell
- parfīmssubstance providing a pleasant smell
Lithuanian aromatas, kvepėjimas
- aromataspleasant smell
- kvepėjimaspleasant smell
- kvepalaisubstance providing a pleasant smell
Malay wangian, minyak atar
- wangianpleasant smell
- minyak atarsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- minyak wangisubstance providing a pleasant smell
Māori kakara, hinu kakara
- kakarapleasant smell
- hinu kakarasubstance providing a pleasant smell
- whakakakarato apply perfume to
Norwegian Bokmål duft, aroma
- duftpleasant smell
- aromapleasant smell
- godluktpleasant smell
- parfymesubstance providing a pleasant smell
Polish woń, zapach
- wońpleasant smell
- zapachpleasant smell
- aromatpleasant smell
- perfumysubstance providing a pleasant smell
- perfumowaćto apply perfume to
- naperfumowaćto apply perfume to
Portuguese fragrância, perfume
- fragrânciapleasant smell
- perfumepleasant smell
- cheiropleasant smell
- perfumesubstance providing a pleasant smell
- perfumarto apply perfume to
Romanian parfum, parfum
- parfumpleasant smell
- parfumsubstance providing a pleasant smell
Russian благоуха́ние, арома́т
- благоуха́ние (blagouxánije)pleasant smell
- арома́т (aromát)pleasant smell
- духи́ (duxí)substance providing a pleasant smell
- парфю́м (parfjúm)substance providing a pleasant smell
- души́ть (dušítʹ)to apply perfume to
- надуши́ть (nadušítʹ)to apply perfume to
Slovak vôňa, vôňa
- vôňapleasant smell
- vôňasubstance providing a pleasant smell
- voňavkasubstance providing a pleasant smell
- navoňaťto apply perfume to
Spanish aroma, perfume
- aromapleasant smell
- perfumesubstance providing a pleasant smell
- perfumarto apply perfume to
Swahili marashi
- marashisubstance providing a pleasant smell
Swedish doft, parfym
- doftpleasant smell
- parfymsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- parfymerato apply perfume to
Tagalog pabango
- pabangosubstance providing a pleasant smell
Thai กลิ่นหอม, น้ำหอม
- กลิ่นหอม (glìn-hɔ̌ɔm)pleasant smell
- น้ำหอม (náam-hɔ̌ɔm)substance providing a pleasant smell
Turkish ıtır, burcu
- ıtırpleasant smell
- burcupleasant smell
- rayihapleasant smell
- nefhapleasant smell
- parfümsubstance providing a pleasant smell
Ukrainian арома́т, па́хощі
- арома́т (aromát)pleasant smell
- па́хощі (páxošči)pleasant smell
- духмя́ність (duxmjánistʹ)pleasant smell
- духи́ (duxý)substance providing a pleasant smell
- парфу́м (parfúm)substance providing a pleasant smell
- напа́хувати (napáxuvaty)to apply perfume to
- напаха́ти (napaxáty)to apply perfume to
- души́ти (dušýty)to apply perfume to
- надуши́ти (nadušýty)to apply perfume to
Urdu عَطْر, عِطْر
- عَطْر ('atr)pleasant smell
- عِطْر ('itr)pleasant smell
- خوشْبُو (xośbū)pleasant smell
- عَطْر ('atr)substance providing a pleasant smell
- عِطْر ('itr)substance providing a pleasant smell
- خوشْبُو (xośbū)substance providing a pleasant smell
Vietnamese mùi thơm, hương thơm
- mùi thơmpleasant smell
- hương thơmpleasant smell
- hương vịpleasant smell
- nước thơmsubstance providing a pleasant smell
- nước hoasubstance providing a pleasant smell
- xịt nước thơm (vàoto apply perfume to
Welsh peraroglau
- peraroglausubstance providing a pleasant smell
Yiddish פּאַרפֿום, פּאַרפֿומירן
- פּאַרפֿום (parfum)substance providing a pleasant smell
- פּאַרפֿומירן (parfumirn)to apply perfume to
Cite this entry
APA
perfume. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perfume
MLA
“perfume.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perfume. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “perfume,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/perfume.
Source: perfume on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.