sillage
- The lingering trail of scent left in the air by a person's perfume after they have passed through or left a space.
- In nautical contexts, the wake or track left by a ship moving through water.
In a sentence
- Her sillage was so distinctive that colleagues knew she had walked through the hallway before they even looked up.
- Perfume reviewers praised the fragrance for its impressive sillage, noting that it filled a room without becoming oppressive.
Usage note. In perfumery, sillage is distinct from 'longevity' (how long a scent lasts on skin); sillage refers specifically to the radius and trail of projection into surrounding air.
Where it comes from
English sillage · entered English 20th c.
Borrowed from French 'sillage,' meaning the wake of a ship or the trail left behind something moving, derived from 'sillon' (furrow, wake), which traces to Old French and ultimately to a Gaulish or Germanic root. The perfumery sense was adopted into English in the 20th century, particularly in fragrance criticism.