From the insanely cool Wordsmith mailing list (one of my first email newsletters, from back in the dark ages of 1995)

petrichor (PET-ri-kuhr) noun

The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

[From petro- (rock), from Greek petros (stone) + ichor (the fluid that is
supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology). Coined by
researchers I.J. Bear and R.G. Thomas.]


"But, even in the other pieces, her prose breaks into passages of lyrical
beauty that come as a sorely needed revifying petrichor amid the pitiless
glare of callousness and cruelty."
Pradip Bhattacharya; Forest Interludes; Indianest.com; Jul 29, 2001.


Now playing: Kicked In, from the album Foolish by Superchunk (released 1994)