Products applied to the skin that remove or mask bad body odors, especially underarm odor.
From de- (remove) + odor (from Latin 'odoratus,' having a smell) + -ant (agent). Coined in the late 1800s as chemistry made it possible to mask or eliminate odors rather than just cover them with perfume, creating a new consumer product category.
Deodorants are a brilliant example of how chemistry created new social anxieties—before commercial deodorants existed in the 1900s, body odor was just normal, but companies spent decades convincing people that not smelling like perspiration was necessary for hygiene and attractiveness.
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