Petrichor
[PEH-truh-kohr]
Part of speech: noun
Origin: English, 1964
1.
The distinctive odor of rain falling on dry ground
Examples of Petrichor in a sentence
"After a month-long dry spell, petrichor was a welcome scent."
"When he awoke to the smell of petrichor, he knew his hiking plans were cancelled."
About Petrichor
You'll likely recognize the distinctive smell that accompanies rain falling on dry soil, but did you know it has a name? You can call it petrichor. The band Phish was so enamored with this particular scent that they wrote a song called Petrichor.
Did you Know?
While the roots of petrichor can be traced back to Ancient Greek ("petro" = stone and "ikhṓr" = lifeblood of the gods), it's a relatively new term. Australian scientist Joy Bear and British scientist Richard Thomas coined the term in a 1964 article in the journal "Nature."
