A standardized lexicon of body odor words crafted from 17 countries

Antonie L. Bierling; Alexander Croy; Fatma Bilem; Leah Bloy; Fiona Yan Yee HO; Andres F. Jimenez; Pavlína Kyjaková; Mariano Mastinu; Nicole Power Guerra; Uta Sailer; Annett Schirmer; Edgardo C. Silva; Veikko Surakka; Lana Takau; Evelina Thunell; Kedarmal Verma; Barbara R. Żyżelewicz; Asifa Majid; Ilona Croy

doi:10.1038/s41597-025-04630-8

A standardized lexicon of body odor words crafted from 17 countries

Antonie L. Bierling, Alexander Croy, Fatma Bilem, Leah Bloy, Fiona Yan Yee HO, Andres F. Jimenez, Pavlína Kyjaková, Mariano Mastinu, Nicole Power Guerra, Uta Sailer, Annett Schirmer, Edgardo C. Silva, Veikko Surakka, Lana Takau, Evelina Thunell, Kedarmal Verma, Barbara R. Żyżelewicz, Asifa Majid, Ilona Croy

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Abstract

Body odors offer a unique window into the physiological and psychological profile of the emitter. This information, broadcast in nonverbal communication, significantly shapes social interactions. However, effectively digitizing body odors requires a precise framework for perceptual operationalization. Previous research has used a very limited number of verbal terms, such as pleasant, intense, or attractive, which fails to adequately capture qualitative differences. To address this gap, we elicited body odor descriptions from 2,607 participants across 17 countries and 13 languages. All these descriptions are presented here in one dataset, together with a condensed list of 25 body odor words (BOW). Those terms reliably differentiated between body states, and were validated in a separate study with a different group of 155 perceivers. The dataset, available as a web application, provides a novel operationalization of body odor impressions, which is a precondition for studying olfaction in human nonverbal communication, for perception-based digitization of body odors and for comparative studies.

Original language	English
Article number	325
Journal	Scientific Data
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04630-8
Publication status	Published - Feb 2025
Publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

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Publication forum level 1

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Statistics and Probability
Information Systems
Education
Computer Science Applications
Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty
Library and Information Sciences

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s41597-025-04630-8Final published version, 5.21 MBLicence: CC BY

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202503182861Licence: CC BY

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Bierling, A. L., Croy, A., Bilem, F., Bloy, L., HO, F. Y. Y., Jimenez, A. F., Kyjaková, P., Mastinu, M., Power Guerra, N., Sailer, U., Schirmer, A., Silva, E. C., Surakka, V., Takau, L., Thunell, E., Verma, K., Żyżelewicz, B. R., Majid, A., & Croy, I. (2025). A standardized lexicon of body odor words crafted from 17 countries. Scientific Data, 12(1), Article 325. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04630-8

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title = "A standardized lexicon of body odor words crafted from 17 countries",

abstract = "Body odors offer a unique window into the physiological and psychological profile of the emitter. This information, broadcast in nonverbal communication, significantly shapes social interactions. However, effectively digitizing body odors requires a precise framework for perceptual operationalization. Previous research has used a very limited number of verbal terms, such as pleasant, intense, or attractive, which fails to adequately capture qualitative differences. To address this gap, we elicited body odor descriptions from 2,607 participants across 17 countries and 13 languages. All these descriptions are presented here in one dataset, together with a condensed list of 25 body odor words (BOW). Those terms reliably differentiated between body states, and were validated in a separate study with a different group of 155 perceivers. The dataset, available as a web application, provides a novel operationalization of body odor impressions, which is a precondition for studying olfaction in human nonverbal communication, for perception-based digitization of body odors and for comparative studies.",

author = "Bierling, {Antonie L.} and Alexander Croy and Fatma Bilem and Leah Bloy and HO, {Fiona Yan Yee} and Jimenez, {Andres F.} and Pavl{\'i}na Kyjakov{\'a} and Mariano Mastinu and {Power Guerra}, Nicole and Uta Sailer and Annett Schirmer and Silva, {Edgardo C.} and Veikko Surakka and Lana Takau and Evelina Thunell and Kedarmal Verma and {\.Z}y{\.z}elewicz, {Barbara R.} and Asifa Majid and Ilona Croy",

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doi = "10.1038/s41597-025-04630-8",

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Bierling, AL, Croy, A, Bilem, F, Bloy, L, HO, FYY, Jimenez, AF, Kyjaková, P, Mastinu, M, Power Guerra, N, Sailer, U, Schirmer, A, Silva, EC, Surakka, V, Takau, L, Thunell, E, Verma, K, Żyżelewicz, BR, Majid, A & Croy, I 2025, 'A standardized lexicon of body odor words crafted from 17 countries', Scientific Data, vol. 12, no. 1, 325. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04630-8

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AU - Bierling, Antonie L.

AU - Croy, Alexander

AU - Bilem, Fatma

AU - Bloy, Leah

AU - HO, Fiona Yan Yee

AU - Jimenez, Andres F.

AU - Kyjaková, Pavlína

AU - Mastinu, Mariano

AU - Power Guerra, Nicole

AU - Sailer, Uta

AU - Schirmer, Annett

AU - Silva, Edgardo C.

AU - Surakka, Veikko

AU - Takau, Lana

AU - Thunell, Evelina

AU - Verma, Kedarmal

AU - Żyżelewicz, Barbara R.

AU - Majid, Asifa

AU - Croy, Ilona

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AB - Body odors offer a unique window into the physiological and psychological profile of the emitter. This information, broadcast in nonverbal communication, significantly shapes social interactions. However, effectively digitizing body odors requires a precise framework for perceptual operationalization. Previous research has used a very limited number of verbal terms, such as pleasant, intense, or attractive, which fails to adequately capture qualitative differences. To address this gap, we elicited body odor descriptions from 2,607 participants across 17 countries and 13 languages. All these descriptions are presented here in one dataset, together with a condensed list of 25 body odor words (BOW). Those terms reliably differentiated between body states, and were validated in a separate study with a different group of 155 perceivers. The dataset, available as a web application, provides a novel operationalization of body odor impressions, which is a precondition for studying olfaction in human nonverbal communication, for perception-based digitization of body odors and for comparative studies.

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ER -

A standardized lexicon of body odor words crafted from 17 countries

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