Etymograph

English

deodorant

Deodorant comes from Latin odorare ‘to smell’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ed-1‘to smell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃édōs1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*odōs1reconstructed
  4. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEodōs1
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEodor2‘a smell’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEodorare2‘to smell’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1987deodorant2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin odor
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English deodorant
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1987, Amy C Lee Wong: “The only apparent difference between Playtex deodorant and nondeodorant…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ed-Wiktionary, Latin odor‘to smell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃édōsWiktionary, Latin odorreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*odōsWiktionary, Latin odorreconstructed
  4. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEodōsWiktionary, Latin odor
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEodorWiktionary, English deodorant‘a smell’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEodorareWiktionary, English deodorant‘to smell’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1987deodorantWiktionary, English deodorant. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1987, Amy C Lee Wong: “The only apparent difference between Playtex deodorant and nondeodorant…”

Equivalent to de- + odor + -ant

Latin dē ‘of; from’

English de-

Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- ‘to smell’

…

Latin odor ‘a smell, perfume, stench’

Old French odor

Anglo-Norman odour

Middle English odour ‘a pleasant or appealing smell or scent’

English odor

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- ‘to smell’

tooth, dental, zinc, ozone, annoy, dent, egregious, tusk, dens, odious, osmium, dancy, redolent, odium, 67 more

through Latin odor ‘a smell’

odor, 4 more

Today it means

noun Any agent acting to eliminate, reduce, mask, or control odor.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “deodorant”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin odor. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- / deodorant

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