Recent research elevates our understanding of olfactory experiences. A project lead by Hörberg and published in Cognitive Science established that “Most languages lack a specialized vocabulary to describe smell experiences. People instead use words from other domains, such as ‘heavy’, ‘good’ or ‘fruity’, when talking about smells. But which words are really used and how do they relate to each other? This has been answered for English by researchers at Stockholm University. . . . ‘Our research shows that English smell words mainly distinguish between pleasant and unpleasant smells, on the one hand, and smells of edible and non-edible things, on the other. The smell words can be divided into words that describe offensive, malodorous, fragrant and ‘edible’ smells”, says Thomas Hörberg. . . . ‘This type of identification and division of words that describe smells can be of great use in the food and perfume industry, for example. These fields need standardized vocabularies to be able to describe and categorize smells and tastes’, says Thomas Hörberg.”
“Smell Words Differ Primarily in Terms of Pleasantness and Edibility.” 2022. Press release, Stockholm University, https://www.su.se/english/news/smell-words-differ-primarily-in-terms-of…