Standard Lemma guide

olfaction

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /oʊlˈfækʃən/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The sense of smell; the detection of airborne molecules.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the faculty that enables us to distinguish scents

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: smell, sense of smell, olfactory modality

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: modality, sense modality, sensory system, exteroception

Narrower terms: nose

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French olfaction /olefaction, from Latin olfactus, perfect passive participle of olfaciō (“to smell (transitive)”) + -tion.

Across languages

Translations

61 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: شَمّ (šamm) — the sense of smell
  • Armenian: հոտառություն (hotaṙutʻyun) — the sense of smell
  • Basque: usaimen — the sense of smell
  • Belarusian: нюх (njux) — the sense of smell
  • Bulgarian: обоня́ние (obonjánie) — the sense of smell
  • Bulgarian: нюх (njuh) — the sense of smell
  • Catalan: olfacte — the sense of smell
  • Catalan: olfacció — the sense of smell
  • Chinese Cantonese: 嗅覺 /嗅觉 (cau3 gok3) — the sense of smell
  • Chinese: 嗅覺 /嗅觉 (hiù-kak) — the sense of smell
  • Chinese Mandarin: 嗅覺 /嗅觉 (xiùjué) — the sense of smell
  • Czech: čich — the sense of smell
  • Dutch: reukzin — the sense of smell
  • Esperanto: flarsenso — the sense of smell
  • Finnish: hajuaisti — the sense of smell
  • Finnish: haistaminen — the sense of smell
  • Finnish: haju — the sense of smell
  • French: olfaction — the sense of smell
  • French: odorat — the sense of smell
  • Galician: olfacto — the sense of smell
  • Galician: olfate — the sense of smell
  • Galician: álido — the sense of smell
  • Galician: ulido — the sense of smell
  • Galician: cheiro — the sense of smell
  • Galician: ventas — the sense of smell
  • German: Geruchssinn — the sense of smell
  • German: Geruch — the sense of smell
  • Greek: όσφρησις (ósfrisis) — the sense of smell
  • Hindi: गंधानुभूति (gandhānubhūti) — the sense of smell
  • Hungarian: szaglás — the sense of smell
  • Italian: olfatto — the sense of smell
  • Italian: odorato — the sense of smell
  • Japanese: 嗅覚 (kyūkaku) — the sense of smell
  • Korean: 후각 (hugak) — the sense of smell
  • Latin: olfactus — the sense of smell
  • Latvian: oža — the sense of smell
  • Lithuanian: uoslė — the sense of smell
  • Macedonian: мирис (miris) — the sense of smell
  • Macedonian: сетило за мирис (setilo za miris) — the sense of smell
  • Norwegian Bokmål: luktesans — the sense of smell
  • Persian: بویایی — the sense of smell
  • Polish: węch — the sense of smell
  • Portuguese: olfato — the sense of smell
  • Portuguese: faro — the sense of smell
  • Romanian: miros — the sense of smell
  • Russian: обоня́ние (obonjánije) — the sense of smell
  • Russian: нюх (njux) — the sense of smell
  • Serbo-Croatian: њу̑х — the sense of smell
  • Serbo-Croatian: njȗh — the sense of smell
  • Slovak: čuch — the sense of smell
  • Slovene: voh — the sense of smell
  • Spanish: olfato — the sense of smell
  • Swedish: luktsinne — the sense of smell
  • Swedish: lukt — the sense of smell
  • Tajik: шомма (šomma) — the sense of smell
  • Turkish: koku alma duyusu — the sense of smell
  • Turkish: koku duyusu — the sense of smell
  • Turkish: olfaksiyon — the sense of smell
  • Ukrainian: нюх (njux) — the sense of smell
  • Vietnamese: khứu giác — the sense of smell
  • Walloon: oda — the sense of smell