Redolent
(adjective) strongly suggestive or reminiscent of something; having a pleasant, lingering scent 👃
Henry buried his face in the bouquet, redolent of honeysuckle and summer rain. 💐🌧️
🏛️ “Redolent” comes from the Latin redolēns, the present participle of redolēre—‘to emit a scent’ or ‘to smell strongly of.’
The word breaks down into re- (used here as an intensive prefix, meaning ‘strongly’ or ‘thoroughly’) and olēre (‘to smell’), which itself traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root *od-, meaning ‘to smell.’
This same ancient root gave us the Latin odor, which passed directly into English. Redolent arrived in English in the 15th century, first carrying a purely sensory meaning—rich with fragrance—before expanding over time to its more figurative sense of being evocative or reminiscent of something.
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