effluvium

American  

[ih-floo-vee-uhm] / ɪˈflu vi əm /

noun

• effluvia,
  plural
• effluviums
  plural

1. a slight or invisible exhalation or vapor, especially one that is disagreeable or noxious.

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effluvium British  

/ ɛˈfluːvɪəm /

noun

1. an unpleasant smell or exhalation, as of gaseous waste or decaying matter

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• effluvial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• effluvia
  plural
• effluviums
  plural

Etymology

Origin of effluvium

1640–50; < Latin, equivalent to ef- ef- + fluv-, base of fluere to flow ( see effluent) + -ium -ium

Explanation

Effluvium is a smelly gas, vapor, or an exhalation. You wouldn't want to breathe in the effluvium from a cargo ship or you might become ill. Stick to sailing. Not a particularly common word these days, effluvium dates back to the 1600's, meaning "a flowing out of air." Since the effluvium seeping out of the tire factory's chimney was invisible, park officials took months to realize fumes were killing hundreds of birds. The Romans were the first to invent a sewage system, thereby diverting effluvium into the drains and out of the city. Thank you, Romans.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

effluvium effluvia effluviums

It can last three to six months but the silver lining is that telogen effluvium can be reversed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025

Unlike genetic or hormone-driven loss, I had a textbook case of telogen effluvium, or stress shedding.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025

Sudden and temporary hair loss has a medical name: telogen effluvium.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 10, 2022

Intense stress, as well as post-viral inflammation from Covid-19, can also cause temporary hair loss known as telogen effluvium.

From New York Times ● Sep. 10, 2021

The gutters filled with rust-colored pine needles and the pungent effluvium of alder leaves, and the drainpipes splashed with winter rain.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson

One turbine spins in the fiery effluvia of engine exhaust, with temperatures around 1,000 degrees.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

Many Wallingford houses were built to avoid the hellish view of tower effluvia.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2023

Today's equivalent might be a sewer worker - but rather than scrabbling through effluvia for scrap metal they go underground for maintenance, such as the grim job of clearing fatbergs.

From BBC ● Dec. 30, 2021

Shuttered mining operations let metal-laden effluvia seep into the waterways.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2017

All at once the horses have begun shrieking, kicking, and displaying every sign of fear, which could only be explained by their detecting the effluvia of some passing camels.

From Wild Spain (Espa?a agreste) Records of Sport with Rifle, Rod, and Gun, Natural History Exploration by Walter J. Buck

The reason for the stillness is the neighborhood's proximity to something called the Brio Superfund site, a place that once housed two waste-disposal plants and now contains a witches' brew of toxic effluviums.

From Time Magazine Archive

Boyle's tracts of the years 1673 and 1674 on "effluviums," their "determinate nature," their "strange subtilty," and their "great efficacy," are examples.

From On the magnet, magnetick bodies also, and on the great magnet the earth a new physiology, demonstrated by many arguments & experiments by William Gilbert