Petrichor is the pleasant, earthy smell you notice when rain falls on dry ground.
What Does Petrichor Mean?
You know that fresh smell after the first rain on a hot, dry day? That smell has a name: petrichor.
It is the smell of the rain arriving: the ground, the stones and the plants all releasing their scent at once. Once you know the word, you will think of it every time it starts to rain.
Pronunciation
PET-ri-kor
The stress is on the first part. The ch sounds like a k, just as in chorus and school.
Natural Examples
After weeks of sunshine, the first storm filled the garden with petrichor.
I opened the window just to breathe in the petrichor.
The petrichor hit us the moment we stepped off the bus.
How to Use It
Petrichor is a rare, poetic word. You will mostly meet it in books, poems and social media posts. In everyday conversation, most people simply say the smell of rain.
A few patterns to know:
- It is a noun you don't count: say petrichor or the petrichor, never a petrichor.
- You can smell it, breathe it in or notice it.
- The air can be full of petrichor.
Common Word Partners
- the smell of petrichor / the scent of petrichor
- petrichor fills the air
- petrichor after the rain / after a storm
- fresh, earthy petrichor
Similar and Related Words
- the smell of rain: the everyday way to say it. Use this when you are just chatting.
- earthy: an adjective for smells or tastes that remind you of soil. The mushrooms had an earthy smell.
And while you are thinking about rain, these everyday words are worth knowing:
- drizzle: very light, fine rain. It's only drizzling, so we don't need an umbrella.
- shower: a short period of rain. There might be a few showers this afternoon.
- downpour: a sudden, very heavy fall of rain. We got caught in a downpour on the way home.
- pouring: raining very heavily. Take a coat, it's pouring!
When it rains extremely hard, some people even say it is raining cats and dogs, one of English's strangest idioms.
Common Mistakes
Can you count it? No.
❌ There was a lovely petrichor after the storm.
✅ There was lovely petrichor after the storm.
How does the "ch" sound? Like k.
❌ PET-ri-chor (ch as in church)
✅ PET-ri-kor (ch as in chorus)
In a Conversation
Ava: Mmm, can you smell that?
Leo: The rain? It smells amazing.
Ava: There's actually a word for it: petrichor.
Leo: That's my new favourite word.
Where Does It Come From?
Two Australian scientists, Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Thomas, created the word in 1964 while studying why rain smells the way it does.
They joined two Greek words:
- petra: stone or rock
- ichor: in Greek myths, the golden fluid that flowed in the veins of the gods
So petrichor means, poetically, "the blood of the stones".
Easy Way to Remember It
Petra means rock. You can see it in petrified: so scared that you feel turned to stone.
So when rain hits dry rocks and soil, you smell the petrichor rising from the stones.
Quick Check
- What does petrichor describe?
- Which is correct: a lovely petrichor or lovely petrichor?
- How do you say the ch in petrichor?
- In everyday conversation, what do most people say instead?
Answers
- The earthy smell when rain falls on dry ground.
- lovely petrichor: you don't count it, so there is no a.
- Like k, as in chorus.
- the smell of rain