Etymologically
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parfum

Etymology and origin of the French word parfum

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Confidence
Probable
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1528, Comptes royaux
Ultimate origin
Latin (fumo)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /paʁ.fœ̃/[1]
  • IPA: /paʁ.fɛ̃/[1]

Forms

parfum m (plural parfums)[1]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from French parfumer (“to scent”).[2][3][4][5][1] The verb (14th century) was formed from Latin fūmō (“to smoke”) (see fumer) with per (“through”), probably borrowed from a Mediterranean language that cannot be identified: compare Old Occitan perfumar and its noun perfum (1387 or 1397), Catalan perfumar, Spanish perfumar, Portuguese perfumar, and Italian profumare (1508) beside dialectal perfumare.[6][4][7] The Grand Robert also allows Italian perfumo as the source of the noun.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Royal accounts of 1528 use it for a pleasant smell, natural or artificial.[2][3] In the 16th century it was above all a smoke, a fumigation, especially a fragrant one, as in Calvin's si on fait perfum aux images de l'empereur.[6][8]

Semantic evolution

Rabelais (1546) has it for any smell or exhalation, the perfums de la canonnerie;[2][6] Baudelaire (1866) used it by antiphrasis for a foul smell.[2][6] In 17th-century medicine it meant all the vapours, good or bad, raised to cure illness (1690, Furetière), when the link with smoke was still felt.[6] It came to name the scented substance itself, and later the flavour of a food (late 18th century), as in glaces à tous les parfums.[3][5]

The slang être au parfum “to be in the know” (about 1950–1953, Le Breton) has become familiar, as has mettre au parfum.[6][2] The derivatives include parfumeur (1527) and parfumerie (1803).[4]

Timeline

  • 1387 – Old Occitan perfum.[6]
  • 1527 – The verb parfumer and parfumeur.[4]
  • 1528 – Parfum “a pleasant smell”.[2][4]
  • 1546 – “Smell, exhalation”, in Rabelais.[2]
  • 1690 – Medicinal vapours, in Furetière.[6]
  • 1803 – Parfumerie.[4]
  • 1953 – Être au parfum, in Le Breton.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pleasant smell, a scent, fragrance: le doux parfum de la rose.[5][1]
  2. Perfume, a scented substance worn on the body: un flacon de parfum.[5][1]
  3. A flavour (of an ice cream, a dessert): glaces à tous les parfums.[5][1]
  4. (figurative) An air, a hint: un parfum de scandale.[5][3]
  5. (familiar) Être au parfum: to be in the know, mettre quelqu'un au parfum, to fill someone in.[6][2][1]

Word family

  • parfumerie

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
Cite this entry

“Parfum.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/parfum. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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