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Word 319 of 2920

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嗅ぐ

かぐ

to smell, sniff

By Nihongo PathUpdated

Examples

  1. 花の香りを嗅いだ。

    はなのかおりをかいだ。

    I smelled the flower's scent.

  2. 犬が地面の匂いを嗅いでいる。

    いぬがじめんのにおいをかいでいる。

    The dog is sniffing the ground.

  3. 牛乳が古くないか、嗅いでみた。

    ぎゅうにゅうがふるくないか、かいでみた。

    I gave the milk a sniff to see if it had gone off.

Common patterns

匂いを嗅ぐ
to smell a smell
香りを嗅ぐ
to smell a fragrance
嗅いでみる
to give something a sniff

Memory tip

嗅ぐ is the active act of sniffing, so it needs an を object. When a smell simply reaches you, Japanese says 匂いがする, not 嗅ぐ. The kanji has 口 plus 自, which was originally a picture of a nose.

Kanji in this word

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What does 嗅ぐ mean?