Translation guide
Describes a smell that remains in a place or on something after the source is gone. Japanese has several nuanced expressions depending on whether the smell is pleasant or unpleasant, and whether it is a remnant or a persistent scent.
To express that a bad smell remains in a room, on clothes, or in the air.
Literally 'remaining smell'. Commonly used for lingering odors, especially unpleasant ones like cigarette smoke or cooking smells.
There's a lingering smell of cigarettes in the room.
A phrase meaning 'the smell remains'. More direct and common in speech.
The smell of curry is lingering in the room.
A more formal or technical term for residual odor, often used in product descriptions or complaints.
This deodorizer completely eliminates lingering odors.
To describe a pleasant fragrance that remains after someone or something has left.
Also used for pleasant lingering scents, though context usually makes it clear. Often used poetically.
Even after she left, her lingering scent hung in the room.
Literally 'lingering fragrance', often used in literary contexts for a pleasant, elegant scent that remains.
To express that an odor has permeated fabric and won't go away easily.
残り香 (のこりが) is a general term for any lingering smell, good or bad, while 余香 (よこう) is specifically a pleasant, often elegant fragrance that remains. 余香 is more literary and less common in daily conversation.
The English phrase 'lingering odor' can sound neutral or slightly negative. In Japanese, directly translating 'lingering' as 長引く (ながびく) for smells is unnatural. Use the expressions above instead.
The tea room was filled with the lingering fragrance of matcha.
Even after washing, the cigarette smell won't come out.