Petrichor

You know that smell right after a good rainstorm when it hasn't rained in a while, when the earth smells fresh and clean and like living things? I love that smell. It's such a happy, "fresh start" smell, and it smells a little different in different places that I've lived. But no matter where I live, I love that smell.

Well, get ready to get your socks pulled down. That smell? It has a name. Petrichor. Cool, right?!

According to wordsmith.com, Petrichor, pronounced PET-ri-kuhr, means "The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell". I also liked this little blurb about why this spell occurs, found on the same website. "Petrichor, the name for the smell of rain on dry ground, is from oils given off by vegetation, absorbed onto neighboring surfaces, and released into the air after a first rain." Matthew Bettelheim; Nature's Laboratory; Shasta Parent (Mt Shasta, California); Jan 2002.