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Bundle 31: Scents and Sensibility

These four kanji are practically symbiotic. The verb 嗅ぐ takes 香り, 臭い, and 匂い as direct objects. Although people usually reserve 臭い for stenches and 匂い for fragrances, these words (both におい) can be interchangeable. Each could convey that something "smacks of" a quality. Whereas 臭い can mean that a man looks suspicious, as if he "smells of" a crime, 嗅 enables people to sniff out crimes! Three of the kanji have ties to religion, and with 香 as "incense," that connection is strong.
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香
fragrance
JOK: 1255
With a plethora of photos, this essay shows how 香 conveys the scent of everything from coffee to flowers in signs from around the globe. This kanji also means "incense" (which has played an important role in Japanese culture and religion for centuries), as well as 'perfume' (which hasn't). On top of that, 香 factors into two notable place names and some food terms. It's even a radical!
臭
foul-smelling
JOK: 1356
Hold your nose! Learn to say, "This room smells musty," "The corpse smelled putrid," and "He smelled something burning. See how 臭, 匂, and 香 differ; how marketers create neuroses; how persimmons connect to reeking of alcohol; and what it really means to “smell of” water, milk, “green,” or incense. Learn to say, "I sensed no lived-in feeling" and "Every country has a bloody history."
嗅
sniff
JOK: 1988
See how 嗅 is closely related to dogs and why a literal term for “police dog” often represents a human! Learn to discuss the sense of smell, as in “Hounds use their keen sense of smell to hunt.” Discover a reason to include onomatopoeia in translating “The dog sniffed the ground.” And learn to talk about sniffing things out figuratively, as in “She caught wind of his true intentions.”
匂
fragrant
JOK: 2089
Find out about a kanji that can represent both a fragrance and a stench. Learn to say, “That flower has a powerful scent,” “The room reeks of lacquer,” “This book has a whiff of anarchism,” “The flowers glow in the morning sun,” “A dog has a sharp sense of smell,” “There's something fishy about how the secretary is acting,” and “In the book she makes no allusion to her profession.”
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