petrichor
- The pleasant, earthy smell produced when rain falls on dry ground.
In a sentence
- After weeks of drought, the first summer storm filled the air with petrichor that the whole town seemed to stop and inhale.
- Marketers have long tried to bottle petrichor, knowing how powerfully that earthy scent triggers nostalgia.
Usage note. Petrichor is a fairly technical and literary word; in casual speech most people simply say 'the smell of rain,' so use it when a precise or evocative term is appropriate.
Where it comes from
English petrichor · entered English 1964
Coined in 1964 by Australian scientists Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Thomas from the Greek 'petra' (stone) and 'ichor' (the fluid said to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology). The word was introduced in the journal Nature and has since entered mainstream English use.