Petrichor
//ˈpɛt.ɹɪ.kə/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The distinctive scent, caused by geosmin, which accompanies the first rain after a long, warm, dry spell. uncountable
"Though it had yet to begin raining, the familiar smell of petrichor appeared to be already present and Neelam suddenly wished she was sitting at home with a nice cup of tea and a good book."
- 2 The yellow organic oil that yields this scent. uncountable
"He hypothesizes that this factor may be petrichor, an oil which has been isolated from silicate minerals and rocks[…]."
Example
More examples"The scent of earth after rain is called petrichor."
Etymology
From petr(o)- + ichor. Coined by Australian scientist Richard Grenfell Thomas in 1964 for the article “Nature of Argillaceous Odour”, co-authored by Isabel Joy Bear and published in the journal Nature.
Related phrases
More for "petrichor"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.