Using your nose to detect odors, or the odor itself.
From Middle English 'smellen,' of uncertain origin but possibly related to Old Norse 'smjöll' (fine) or Proto-Germanic roots. The word entered English around 1200 CE with its current meaning.
Smell is the most primal sense—it connects directly to your emotional brain without filtering through language like vision and hearing do. Which is why smells trigger memories so powerfully and why humans underestimate smell's importance!
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