Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “perfume” come from?

Perfume comes from Middle French parfum, derived from Middle French parfumer, which comes from Old Occitan perfumar.

perfume (English): A pleasant smell; the scent, odor, or odoriferous...

Definitions

  1. A pleasant smell; the scent, odor, or odoriferous...

Ancestry of “perfume”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchparfum—
2Latinper-Used to make adjectives or verbs that are "very"...
3Proto-Italicperi-—

Words derived from “perfume”

  • perfumery
  • perfumer
  • unperfumed
  • perfumey
  • perfumeless
  • perfumelike
  • perfumable
  • overperfume
Every word from Proto-Italic peri- →