Commonly confused words part 1: ‘Odious’
Welcome to my new series, ‘commonly confused words.’ It might delight logophiles (word lovers), possibly annoy normal people, but will hopefully help clear up those pesky words that are so easy to mix-up. Today, we’re getting smelly. (Or are we?)
Word: Odious
Common error: Used as a word meaning horrid smelling/revolting in odour/offensive to the nostrils.
Actually means: Something or someone causing feelings of hatred/an adjective to describe that which is deeply offensive or dreadful.
Example: ‘They were insulting, offensive and greedy. In short, this individual was a thoroughly odious character.’
(From the Latin word ‘Odium’ meaning hatred)
Word often confused with: Malodorous, meaning something that smells revolting or sickening.
Best use in popular culture:
Blackadder: season 4, episode 4 - Private Plane. Edmund refers to Baldrick as a “Malodorous runt wasting everybody’s time.” (because he’s a famously smelly individual)
So there you have it. It’s easy to think because ‘odious’ sounds so much like ‘odorous,’ it means something that smells disgusting. It also sounds like it should mean something rather pungent and poopy due its lovely but slightly sickly and vowelly morphology. But if you’re describing that which offends the nostrils, you definitively want the word ‘malodorous.’ And don’t forget the ‘mal’ prefix either! Even describing something foul smelling as ‘odorous’ wouldn’t be correct, because ‘Odorous’ simply means strong smelling — good or bad. In fact odorous actually comes from a Latin word which means ‘fragrant.’
To sum up:
Odious — is awful.
Malodorous — smells awful.
Enjoyed this? Hopefully it wasn’t too odious! Read more of my work here.
