Word every Darling should know: Petrichor

Why this word: Ever wonder what we miss when we’re simply too busy to notice? How about the taste of the sun’s warmth when biting into a perfectly ripe peach, or the feeling of silk on your skin, or the sound of complete, utter silence, or the range of colors seen during a sunrise or sunset? Petrichor just happens to be the pleasant smell outside after it rains. Much like perfume, there is a science behind this lovely scent. Nature provides a complicated mixture of at least fifty different compounds created by the oily essences emitted from rocks and soils, each unique in its own right. From this complicated mixture comes petrichor. This gives me hope that I’m not imagining things when I am awakened from a deep sleep by the smell of snow moments before it begins falling from the sky.

As an added bonus, Ammon Shea, the author of Reading the OED (yes, he read through the whole of the Oxford English Dictionary!) cited petrichor as one of his favorite words.

Definition: petrichor (noun) pronunciation: pet-ri-kuhr

1. The pleasant smell outside after it rains

Use this word in a sentence: The air was ripe with the pleasant, dewy petrichor of the post-rain afternoon.

Have you been using our previously featured words?

Fruition: Attainment of anything desired.
Ubiquitous: Existing or being everywhere.
Meraki: To do something with soul, creativity or love.

Photo by Lacey Marie Photography, via Pinterest