匂い

• 読み: におい
• ローマ字: nioi
• 漢字の分解: 匂 (nio) — smell, scent, fragrance
• 発音: /ni.o.i/

意味

Smell; scent; odour. The quality detected by the nose.

Can refer to both pleasant and unpleasant smells, though for strongly bad odours, 臭い (kusai) is more common. Often written in hiragana as におい. The related verb is 匂う (niou, to smell). Used both literally and figuratively.

例文

1. このパンはいい匂いがします。
2. 花の匂いが好きです。
3. おいしい匂いがしますね。

使い方ガイド

場面: daily life, food, nature

トーン: neutral

起源と歴史

From Old Japanese nihohi, originally meaning a visual glow or radiance of colour. Over centuries, the meaning shifted from visual beauty to olfactory sensation.

文化的背景

時代: Classical

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal