smacking of; hinting of
Figurative use: attached to nouns to mean 'suggestive of ...' or 'having a whiff of ...', often with a negative connotation.
His explanation has a whiff of contrivance.
A sweat smell remains in the socks.
That story has a whiff of fraud.
臭 is a suffix meaning 'smelling of ~' attached to a noun (体臭), whereas 臭い is the independent i-adjective meaning 'smelly' that can stand alone or describe a noun with の/な structure differences.
From the kanji 臭 (smell, odor), used as a suffix in compounds. The figurative sense developed from the literal 'smell' meaning.
rotten smell; smell of decay
pungent smell; strong odor
boyishness; inexperience; greenness
slight smell; low odor
lingering odor; residual smell
vulgarity; worldliness
officialism; red tape; bureaucratic stench
Japanese flavor; Japanese style; touch of Japan
phantosmia; phantom smell; olfactory hallucination
stench of death; putrid smell of a corpse
foul smell; stench
deodorization; odor removal