Origin

The character 嗅 combines three elements to express the act of smelling. The left component 口 represents the mouth, while 臭 on the right means "stink" or "odor" — it itself is made from 犬 (dog) and 自 (self), since dogs are famously good at detecting smells. By putting these components together — mouth, odor, and the idea of smell-sensing — the character represents sniffing or using your senses to detect a scent. The combination shows that smelling involves both the mouth area and the ability to perceive odors, similar to how taste and smell work together.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).