BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English: How do we describe smells?

Episode 260827 / 27 Aug 2026

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核心介绍

中文简介

本期节目探讨英语如何描述气味。Neil 和 Georgie 讨论气味词汇的主观性、英语缺乏专门描述气味质量的词汇、petrichor（雨后土香）、vellichor（旧书香）、nidor（烹饪肉香）等专有名词，以及文化上对气味话题的回避。教授核心词汇：stinky、fragrant、subjective、visual、auditory、shut down。

本周问题

What is the word for the smell of old books?

形容旧书气味的单词是什么？

a) vellichor ✅

b) petrichor

c) nidor

答案：vellichor = 旧书的气味（及其引发的怀旧感）

• petrichor = 雨后泥土的气味
• nidor = 烹饪肉和脂肪的气味

重点词汇表

课文重点解析

1. 核心观点：英语气味词汇的贫乏与主观性

Georgie: “In English, we often describe smells by comparing them to other objects. For example, something nice might smell like a rose, while something bad might smell like rotten eggs, but there are few words to describe the actual smell itself.”

Georgie: “英语中我们常通过与其他物体比较来描述气味。好闻的像玫瑰，难闻的像臭鸡蛋，但极少有词汇直接描述气味本身。”

Asifa Majid: “Unlike colour terms, it doesn’t really seem to be about the object it’s describing. It seems to be a subjective thing.”

阿西法·马吉德教授: “不像颜色词，气味词似乎不关乎被描述对象本身，而是主观的东西。”

关键洞察：

• ✅ 颜色/味觉有共识：red, sweet, salty → 大家达成一致
• ✅ 气味高度主观：stinky vs fragrant 可同时为真
• ✅ 英语主要用比喻/来源描述气味，而非内在质量

2. 专门的气味词汇

3. 感官形容词对比

4. 文化因素：气味话题的社会化压制

Asifa Majid: “Young children in the UK are often interested in the sense of smell and they’ll remark on it, and the parent will shut it down. They’ll say, ‘That’s disgusting! Put it down.’”

马吉德教授: “英国孩子常对气味感兴趣并评论，父母会制止/叫停。会说：‘真恶心！放下。’”

Neil: “Maybe this is because of how we’re raised by our parents. When children start talking about smells, especially unpleasant ones, parents often react by shutting the conversation down.”

Neil: “也许源于教养方式。孩子谈论气味（尤难闻），父母常叫停对话。”

关键词：shut down = 止、终结、关闭（对话/项目/系统）

5. 坏气味的丰富同义词 vs 好气味的匮乏

Michael Rosen: “Fusty, reeking, toiking, honking, humming, funky…”

霉味、臭味、臭味、臭味、臭味、臭味……

现象：

• ✅ 坏气味词汇极其丰富（Michael Rosen 收集了大量）
• ✅ 好气味词汇相对贫乏（主要 fragrant, aromatic, sweet, fresh）

批判性思考题

1. 语言相对论视角：英语气味词汇贫乏是否限制了英语使用者的嗅觉感知/分类能力？对比 拉丁语 olere/fragrare 区分、印尼语 bau/harum/busu 三分法。

2. 主观性与交际功能：stinky/fragrant 这种"评价性"而非"描述性"形容词，在交际中有何功能？(phatic communication, social bonding, warning)

3. 跨文化气味词汇：中文"香/臭/腥/膻/馊/霉/焦/酸/咸/甜/苦/辣"对气味/味觉的精细编码。英语 gamey, funky, musty, rancid, pungent, acrid, cloying 如何对应？

4. 专有名词化趋势：petrichor, vellichor, nidor 等新造词填补词汇空白。这种"希腊词根+ichor"构词法是否可持续？会成为标准词汇吗？

5. 数字嗅觉技术前景：电子鼻、气味数字化传输、VR 气味模拟。若技术实现气味共享，语言描述气味的压力会减轻还是加剧？

完整对话记录

Transcript

Neil: Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

Georgie: And I’m Georgie. In English, there are many ways to describe smells. Poet Michael Rosen wanted to find words describing bad smells, and asked listeners of his BBC Radio 4 programme Word of Mouth for some suggestions.

Michael Rosen: Fusty, reeking, toiking, honking, humming, funky…

Neil: Smells are everywhere, whether they’re bad smells like rotten eggs and sweaty feet, or pleasant ones like lavender and freshly baked bread. What smells do you especially like or dislike, Georgie?

Georgie: Well, I really enjoy the smell of leather, but something I really love is the smell of rain, which has a name. Do you know it, Neil?

Neil: Erm, I don’t think I do actually.

Georgie: It’s called petrichor. It’s that smell of the ground just after it’s rained.

Neil: Mmm.

Georgie: Neil, what about you? Which smells do you like?

Neil: Well, I don’t think you can beat the smell of a freshly opened packet of ground coffee.

Georgie: Ooh, that’s a good one. In this episode, we’ll be learning the language of smells using some useful new words and phrases. And remember, you can find all the vocabulary plus a quiz and worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

Neil: But first, I have a question for you, Georgie. One smell many people love is the smell of old books and the sentimental feeling it gives them for second-hand bookshops. In fact, there’s even a word for it, but what is it? Is it: a) vellichor, b) petrichor, or c) nidor?

Georgie: Well, we already know that petrichor is the smell of the ground after rain. I’m going to go with a) vellichor.

Neil: Well, we’ll find out at the end of the programme. Listening to Michael Rosen’s list – funky, reeking, humming and the rest – you might think English is good at describing smells, but in fact, all those words really mean is bad smelling.

Georgie: In English, we often describe smells by comparing them to other objects. For example, something nice might smell like a rose, while something bad might smell like rotten eggs, but there are few words to describe the actual smell itself.

Neil: Oxford University psychologist Asifa Majid has researched the subject of smell extensively. Here, she tells Michael Rosen a little of what she’s found out on BBC Radio 4 programme Word of Mouth.

Asifa Majid: So, if we think about things like stinky or fragrant, they’re definitely telling us that something is good or bad. But unlike colour terms, it doesn’t really seem to be about the object it’s describing. It seems to be a subjective thing. I could say, “Oh this perfume you think is really fragrant, I think is stinky,” and both can be true.

Georgie: Describing smell is not like describing other senses. I might think a perfume is stinky, an adjective meaning bad smelling, while Neil might find the same perfume fragrant, meaning pleasant smelling. Both can be true. The point is that neither stinky nor fragrant say anything specific about the perfume’s actual smell.

Neil: With our sense of taste, it’s different. Words like spicy, sweet or salty create a common idea that we can all agree on, but that’s not the case for smells. Asifa thinks this is because, unlike tastes and colours, smell words are subjective – they’re based on personal opinions and feelings rather than objective truth.

Georgie: This might explain why our attitude to talking about smells is so different. Here’s Asifa again, sharing some examples of how we talk about smells with BBC Radio 4.

Asifa Majid: So, if we compare how often people talk about visual things, or auditory things, or tastes or smells, what we find is we talk a lot about what we see and very rarely about what we smell. Young children in the UK are often interested in the sense of smell and they’ll remark on it, and the parent will shut it down. They’ll say, “That’s disgusting! Put it down.”

Georgie: Asifa’s research shows that, here in the UK at least, people talk about visual or auditory things much more than they talk about smells. The adjective visual means related to seeing, and auditory means related to hearing. The adjective for things related to smelling is olfactory.

Neil: Maybe this is because of how we’re raised by our parents. When children start talking about smells, especially unpleasant ones, parents often react by shutting the conversation down. The phrase to shut something down means to stop it.

Georgie: Along with other European languages, English doesn’t have much vocabulary dedicated to the different qualities of actual smells. There are many ways of talking about smells, especially unpleasant ones, but only a few words which describe actual smells themselves. A good example of a word which does this is musty – a damp, stale smell you might find in an old bookshop. And Neil, that reminds me of your question.

Neil: That’s right. I asked you what the word is, which means the smell of old books.

Georgie: I said it was vellichor.

Neil: Well, Georgie, you are absolutely right.

Georgie: Yay!

Neil: Petrichor, as you said earlier, is the smell of the earth after rain. And nidor is the smell of cooking meat and fat. OK. It’s time for a recap of the vocabulary we’ve learned. The adjective stinky means foul smelling, while the adjective fragrant means pleasant smelling.

Georgie: Subjective things are based on your own personal opinions and feelings rather than objective facts.

Neil: The adjective visual describes things related to seeing, while auditory means related to hearing. Things related to smelling are called olfactory.

Georgie: And finally, the phrasal verb to shut something down means to stop it. Once again, our six minutes are up, but there’s still time to head over to our website, bbclearningenglish.com, for a quiz and worksheet containing all the vocabulary we’ve discussed. See you again soon! But for now, it’s goodbye.

Neil: Goodbye!

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Source: BBC Learning English - 6 Minute English
Published: 27 Aug 2026
Length: ~6 minutes
Presenters: Neil, Georgie
Series: 6 Minute English
Episode Code: 260827