perfume
pronunciation
How to pronounce perfume in British English:
UK [ˈpɜːfjuːm]
How to pronounce perfume in American English:
US [pərˈfjuːm]
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- Noun:
- a toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor
- a distinctive odor that is pleasant
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- Verb:
- fill or impregnate with an odor
- apply perfume to
Word Origin
- perfume
- perfume: [16] The -fume of perfume is the same word as English fumes, but whereas fumes has gone downhill semantically, perfume has remained in the realms of pleasant odours. It comes from French parfum, a derivative of the verb parfumer. This was borrowed from early Italian parfumare, a compound formed from the prefix par- ‘through’ and fumare ‘smoke’, which denoted a ‘pervading by smoke’. When it first arrived in English, the semantic element ‘burning’ was still present, and perfume denoted the ‘fumes produced by burning a substance, such as incense’, but this gradually dropped out in favour of the more general ‘pleasant smell’.=> fume
- perfume (n.)
- 1530s, "fumes from a burning substance," from Middle French parfum (16c.), from parfumer "to scent," from Old Provençal perfumar or cognate words in dialectal Italian (perfumare) or Spanish (perfumar), from Latin per- "through" (see per) + fumare "to smoke" (see fume (n.)). Meaning "fluid containing agreeable essences of flowers, etc.," is attested from 1540s.
- perfume (v.)
- 1530s, "to fill with smoke or vapor," from perfume (n.) or from Middle French parfumer. Meaning "to impart a sweet scent to" is from 1530s. Related: Perfumed; perfuming.
Example
- 1. Did you buy any perfume for your wife ?
- 2. Do you have some new perfume ?
- 3. Does your right to wear perfume end at my nose ?
- 4. Be a romantic scientist : distill your own perfume oil .
- 5. And I 've learned it pays to take a friend along when buying perfume .