What does odorant mean?
An odorant is a substance that gives another material a distinctive smell. The term is especially common in safety and industrial contexts: natural gas, for example, is naturally almost odorless, so a strong-smelling mercaptan is added to make leaks easier to detect. Odorants are also important in perfumes, foods, and other products where a controlled scent is part of the design. The word differs from “odor,” which names a smell rather than the substance producing it, and from “deodorant,” which reduces or masks unwanted smells. Understanding odorants is useful because scent is often a deliberately engineered signal, either warning of danger or shaping how people experience a product.
A substance that produces a characteristic smell, especially one added to another substance to make it detectable or distinctive.
"The odorant was mixed into the fuel to identify contamination."
Chiefly used in technical and industrial contexts, particularly for substances added to natural gas, fuels, and other materials.
Having the function of producing or imparting a distinctive smell.
"The researchers tested the odorant properties of several compounds."
Less common than the noun form and usually appearing in technical descriptions.
The plural is used when referring to multiple odor-producing substances or chemical agents.
"Different odorants can make otherwise similar gases easier to distinguish."
Natural gas is nearly odorless, so a deliberately foul-smelling chemical is added to make leaks dangerously easy to spot.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does odorant come from?
The word comes through French odorant, from Latin odorans, the present participle of odorare, meaning “to smell” or “to give off a smell.” Its root is also the source of English “odor,” British “odour,” and the related adjective “olfactory,” all of which concern the sense of smell. The Latin participial form developed into a noun referring to a substance with a distinctive smell.
Related word forms
How odorant is actually used
The word is most common in technical, industrial, and safety contexts. In British English, it is often pronounced with an initial /əʊ/, while North American English typically uses /oʊ/. “Odorizer” is also used in some North American industrial terminology.
Easily confused with odorant
An odor is the smell itself, whereas an odorant is a substance that produces an odor.