C2 · 33 words

Perfumery

How a fragrance is built, and the German words for the way it changes from the first spray to the evening.

Der Flakon is the one bottle on this page that an English speaker already owns, though in a very different shape. German took the word from French flacon for a small, carefully made bottle, and today it almost always holds perfume. English had borrowed the same French word in the Middle Ages, and it settled down as « flagon »: a large vessel with a handle for ale or wine, about as far from a dressing table as a bottle can get. One word, borrowed twice, in two sizes. The family reaches further back. French flacon goes back to late Latin flasco, which belongs with German die Flasche and English « flask »; which side lent it to the other is still argued over. So when German says Flakon rather than Flasche, it is not naming a different object but a different price: the same glass, dressed up in French.

The words

Verb (4)

abstumpfento go numb, to become dulled (of the senses)VerbC2

Nach dem fünften Duft stumpft die Nase ab, und alles riecht gleich.After the fifth fragrance your nose goes numb and everything smells the same.

Separable; perfect with sein when the sense itself goes dull.

aufsprühento spray onVerbC1

Sprühen Sie den Duft aus etwa zwanzig Zentimetern Abstand auf und verreiben Sie ihn nicht.Spray the fragrance on from about twenty centimetres away and do not rub it in.

Separable.

verduftento lose its scent; to make oneself scarce (colloquial)VerbC2

Steht der Flakon ohne Verschluss im Bad, verduftet das Parfüm mit der Zeit.If the bottle stands uncapped in the bathroom, the perfume gradually loses its scent.

Perfect with sein: ist verduftet.

umformulierento reformulateVerbC2

Der Klassiker musste wegen neuer Grenzwerte umformuliert werden und riecht heute anders.The classic had to be reformulated because of new limits and smells different today.

Separable; past participle umformuliert.

This list belongs to Free time and what people do in it — 20 lists and 689 words that can also be practised as a whole.

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