First recorded in 1960–65.
Comes from petro-, a combining form meaning \"rock,\" and ichor, which in classical mythology means “ethereal fluid flowing in the veins of the gods.”
Sign up for more Word of the Day!

\r\nEXAMPLES OF PETRICHOR\r\n

The desert landscape was quickly transformed as petrichor filled the air after a long-awaited rainstorm.
As the storm passed, leaving behind puddles and damp earth, the sweet petrichor lingered like a fond memory.

\r\nIt's National Poetry Month, and we’ve created a challenge that really is for everyone. Submit now!","audio":"https://static.sfdict.com/audio/NEW2016/petrichor_000.mp3","definitions":[{"partofspeech":"noun","data":"a distinctive scent, usually described as earthy, pleasant, or sweet, produced by rainfall on very dry ground."}],"examples":[],"imageUrl":"https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/petrichor_IG.png","accentColor":"#0063D7"}},"status":"succeeded"}},"meta":{"requestId":"hl-MUEitE9c-Tr5epc3W4","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"fetchWordsNearby/fulfilled","payload":{"data":{"before":[{"slug":"nilote","entry":"Nilote"},{"slug":"nilotic","entry":"Nilotic"},{"slug":"nilotic-crocodile","entry":"Nilotic crocodile"},{"slug":"nilpotent","entry":"nilpotent"},{"slug":"nil-return","entry":"nil return"}],"after":[{"slug":"nilsson","entry":"Nilsson"},{"slug":"nim","entry":"nim"},{"slug":"nimble","entry":"nimble"},{"slug":"nimblewit","entry":"nimblewit"},{"slug":"nimbly","entry":"nimbly"}]}},"meta":{"arg":{"word":"nil-sine-numine"},"requestId":"FqVHM18Epl0xXrlUT-KEF","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"luna/fetchExampleSentences/fulfilled","payload":{"data":{"tdb":[],"gbg":[]}},"meta":{"arg":{"word":"nil-sine-numine"},"requestId":"bmKQ6eYfIeV_Oc0sxe3P-","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"fetchDictionaryResults/fulfilled","payload":{"slugs":[{"entries":[{"__typename":"Entry","audioPronunciations":[{"mpeg":"https://nonprod-audio.dictionary.com/N01/N0146000/N0146000.mp3"}],"confusableNotes":[],"genderNotes":[],"grammarNotes":[],"headword":{"displayForm":"nil sine numine","slug":"nil-sine-numine"},"idioms":[],"orderKey":99999010,"ordinal":10,"origin":null,"partOfSpeechBlock":[{"definitions":[{"antonymsConnection":{"edges":[]},"definitionSetChunks":"[{\"type\": \"def\", \"children\": [{\"text\": \"nothing without the divine will: motto of Colorado.\", \"type\": \"text\"}]}]","examples":[],"ordinal":1,"subdefinitions":[],"synonymsConnection":{"edges":[]}}],"inflectionSets":[],"labelSet":{"labelSetText":"Latin."},"ordinal":1,"partOfSpeech":null}],"pronunciationNotes":[],"pronunciationSet":{"pronunciationSetChunk":"{\"type\": \"pronunciation_set\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e701450.4ad4\", \"pronunciationGroupChunks\": [{\"type\": \"pronunciation_group\", \"punc\": \"semi\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e701450.4ad5\", \"ipaChunks\": [{\"text\": \"nil \\u02c8s\\u026an \\u025b \\u02c8nu m\\u026a n\\u025b\", \"type\": \"text\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd01503d1.74a0\"}], \"spellChunks\": [{\"text\": \"neel \", \"type\": \"text\"}, {\"text\": \"sin\", \"type\": \"bold\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd01503d1.74a2\"}, {\"text\": \"-e \", \"type\": \"text\"}, {\"text\": \"noo\", \"type\": \"bold\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd01503d1.74a3\"}, {\"text\": \"-mi-ne\", \"type\": \"text\"}]}, {\"text\": \"English\", \"type\": \"label_set\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e701450.4ada\"}, {\"type\": \"pronunciation_group\", \"punc\": \"comma\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e701450.4adc\", \"ipaChunks\": [{\"text\": \"n\\u026al \\u02c8s\\u026an i \\u02c8nu m\\u026a ni\", \"type\": \"text\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd50861d7.680b\"}], \"spellChunks\": [{\"text\": \"nil \", \"type\": \"text\"}, {\"text\": \"sin\", \"type\": \"bold\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd50861d7.680d\"}, {\"text\": \"-ee \", \"type\": \"text\"}, {\"text\": \"noo\", \"type\": \"bold\", \"pointsTo\": \"u1d12ccc8b4c7be82.4ec6689c.17fd50861d7.680e\"}, {\"text\": \"-mi-nee\", \"type\": \"text\"}]}, {\"type\": \"pronunciation_group\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e701450.4ae1\", \"ipaChunks\": [{\"text\": \"\\u02c8nyu-\", \"type\": \"text\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e701450.4ae2\"}], \"spellChunks\": [{\"text\": \"nyoo\", \"type\": \"bold\", \"pointsTo\": \"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e701450.4ae4\"}, {\"text\": \"-\", \"type\": \"text\"}]}]}"},"relatedFormSets":[],"sensitiveNotes":[],"spellingNotes":[],"synonymStudy":[],"usageAlerts":[],"usageNotes":[],"variants":[],"verbPhrases":[]}],"url":"nil-sine-numine"}]},"meta":{"arg":{"slug":"nil-sine-numine"},"requestId":"JjvKFEXVVC1pHniR4bGcI","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"fetchResultsData/fulfilled","payload":{"data":{"url":"nil-sine-numine","displayForm":"nil sine numine","canonicalSlug":"nil-sine-numine","content":[{"source":"luna","entries":[{"id":"u3bb48a285cbafaf0.-3bc55cee.14d9e701450.4ad0","type":"normal","entry":"nil sine numine","entrySyllabified":"nil si·ne nu·mi·ne","entryVariants":[],"homograph":null,"pronunciation":{"ipa":"nil ˈsɪn ɛ ˈnu mɪ nɛ; English nɪl ˈsɪn i ˈnu mɪ ni, ˈnyu- ","spell":"neel sin-e noo-mi-ne; English nil sin-ee noo-mi-nee, nyoo- ","audio":{"audio/ogg":"https://static.sfdict.com/audio/lunawav/N01/N0146000.ogg","audio/mpeg":"https://static.sfdict.com/audio/N01/N0146000.mp3"}},"predefinitionContent":"","posBlocks":[{"definitions":[{"order":1,"type":"simple","predefinitionContent":"","postdefinitionContent":"","definition":"nothing without the divine will: motto of Colorado.","synonyms":"","antonyms":"","cites":[]}],"pos":"","posSupplementaryInfo":"Latin."}],"origin":null,"originData":null,"supplementaryNotes":[],"variantForms":[],"variantSpellings":[],"referenceData":[],"relatedForms":[],"confusables":[]}]}],"nearbyWordOrdinal":105789,"index-rank-01":["nil sine numine"],"index-rank-02":[],"index-rank-03":[],"index-rank-04":[],"index-rank-05":[],"index-rank-06":["nil numine","numine","numine sine","sine"],"index-rank-07":[],"index-rank-08":[],"index-rank-09":[],"index-rank-10":[],"index-rank-11":[],"index-rank-12":[],"index-rank-13":[],"index-rank-14":[],"index-rank-15":[],"complexityScore":0.3416000276478353,"gradeLevel":"middle_school","tunaSlug":null,"isFeaturedMetaSlug":false}},"meta":{"arg":{"word":"nil-sine-numine"},"requestId":"zIbcalQcg8bCtpwAX3vnt","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}},{"type":"fetchSpellSuggestions/fulfilled","payload":{"data":{"luna":["numina","numen","nominee","lumine","IMinE","NMN","Namen","imine","nomen","Nyman","mine","nine","numnah","numbing","Neumann","Numic","amine","cumin","Neman","-amine","numis.","Min.E.","B.Min.E."],"tuna":["seine","sinew","singe","sin","since","spine","swine","dine","shine","sie","cine","sane","sing","sink","fine","kine","line","mine","nine","pine","side","sire","site","size","tine","vine","wine"],"lunaWithSlug":[{"displayForm":"numina","slug":"numina"},{"displayForm":"numen","slug":"numen"},{"displayForm":"nominee","slug":"nominee"},{"displayForm":"lumine","slug":"lumine"},{"displayForm":"IMinE","slug":"imine"},{"displayForm":"NMN","slug":"nmn"},{"displayForm":"Namen","slug":"namen"},{"displayForm":"imine","slug":"imine"},{"displayForm":"nomen","slug":"nomen"},{"displayForm":"Nyman","slug":"nyman"},{"displayForm":"mine","slug":"mine"},{"displayForm":"nine","slug":"nine"},{"displayForm":"numnah","slug":"numnah"},{"displayForm":"numbing","slug":"numbing"},{"displayForm":"Neumann","slug":"neumann"},{"displayForm":"Numic","slug":"numic"},{"displayForm":"amine","slug":"amine"},{"displayForm":"cumin","slug":"cumin"},{"displayForm":"Neman","slug":"neman"},{"displayForm":"-amine","slug":"amine"},{"displayForm":"numis.","slug":"numis"},{"displayForm":"Min.E.","slug":"mine"},{"displayForm":"B.Min.E.","slug":"b-min-e"}],"tunaWithSlug":[{"displayForm":"seine","slug":"seine"},{"displayForm":"sinew","slug":"sinew"},{"displayForm":"singe","slug":"singe"},{"displayForm":"sin","slug":"sin"},{"displayForm":"since","slug":"since"},{"displayForm":"spine","slug":"spine"},{"displayForm":"swine","slug":"swine"},{"displayForm":"dine","slug":"dine"},{"displayForm":"shine","slug":"shine"},{"displayForm":"sie","slug":"sie"},{"displayForm":"cine","slug":"cine"},{"displayForm":"sane","slug":"sane"},{"displayForm":"sing","slug":"sing"},{"displayForm":"sink","slug":"sink"},{"displayForm":"fine","slug":"fine"},{"displayForm":"kine","slug":"kine"},{"displayForm":"line","slug":"line"},{"displayForm":"mine","slug":"mine"},{"displayForm":"nine","slug":"nine"},{"displayForm":"pine","slug":"pine"},{"displayForm":"side","slug":"side"},{"displayForm":"sire","slug":"sire"},{"displayForm":"site","slug":"site"},{"displayForm":"size","slug":"size"},{"displayForm":"tine","slug":"tine"},{"displayForm":"vine","slug":"vine"},{"displayForm":"wine","slug":"wine"}]}},"meta":{"arg":{"word":"nil-sine-numine"},"requestId":"LdaH3fk3ipTIsfDV1B-J-","requestStatus":"fulfilled"}}]},"actionData":null,"errors":null}

nil sine numine

Word of the Day