Wordwyrt

perfume

/pəfˈjuːm/pur-FYOOM
/pɚfˈjum/pur-FYOOM

Meaningsmoke through

Common meaning: a sweet smell

‘through’ + ‘smoke, vapour’ → perfume

Journey through time

  1. Latinfūmus‘smoke, vapour’
  2. Frenchparfumer
  3. Englishperfume‘a sweet smell’ · today

per- also in: percentperceptperfidyperjurypersist

fum also in: fumefumigate

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin fūmus ‘smoke, vapour’.

Did you know: our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry fūmus, p. 791 · dictionary scan

Roots

  • fūmus Latin “smoke, vapour”

Related words

fumefumigate

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