parosamia

9.9

A problem with the sense of smell that makes familiar smells seem wrong or unpleasant

noun
/ˌpɛrəˈseɪmiə/

Specialized

: parosamia

After his illness, John developed parosamia and found that coffee smelled unpleasantly metallic.

Examples

Doctors diagnosed her with parosamia after she reported that familiar scents now seemed distorted.
After the accident, he experienced parosamia, causing his favorite foods to smell rotten instead of delicious.
Parosamia can significantly affect a person's enjoyment of food and quality of life.
She was diagnosed with parosamia last year.
Many people with parosamia report strange smells.
Parosamia can significantly alter how someone perceives everyday scents, making familiar smells seem unusual.
People living with parosamia often struggle to enjoy meals because their sense of smell has become distorted.

Synonyms

olfactory impairment

vsparosamia

Specialized

1 7.4

A condition where you cannot smell things like smoke or perfume

refers to changed odor perception rather than mere loss of smell

dysosmia

vsparosamia

Specialized

9.9

A problem with smelling that makes smells weak or wrong

focuses specifically on odors seeming different from normal rather than general impairment

dysomia

vsparosamia

Specialized

9.9

A reduced or lost ability to smell things

highlights altered smell quality, not just reduced detection ability

Surface Forms

parosamia singular

parosamias plural

Etymology

Parosamia comes from the prefix para- meaning 'beside' or 'wrong' and the part -osmia from Greek for 'smell', the same -osmia you find in anosmia ('no smell'). So parosamia is a condition where familiar smells seem 'wrong' or changed.