Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “olfaction” come from?

Olfaction comes from Latin olfactus, the past participle of olfacio, meaning to smell, formed from oleum, meaning oil, and facio, meaning to make.

olfaction (English): The sense of smell; the detection of airborne...

Definitions

  1. The sense of smell; the detection of airborne...

Ancestry of “olfaction”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinolfactussmelled, scented; smelling; sense of smell
2Latinolfaciō—
3Latinfaciō—
4Latin-toriumnominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative...
5Latin-tōrius—
6Latin-tor-er
7Proto-Italic-tōr—
8Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
9Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →