bad smell; unpleasant odor
Refers to an offensive smell, often from food, bodily odors, or decay.
This fish has a bad smell.
冷蔵庫から臭みがする。
There's a bad smell coming from the fridge.
affectation; pretentiousness; fulsomeness
Figurative use describing something that feels forced, overly sentimental, or insincere, like a 'stink' of artificiality.
His acting has a touch of affectation.
That novel is hard to read because it's so fulsome.
Standard kanji spelling; the most common written form.
Alternate kanji spelling using 味; less common than 臭み.
Derived from the adjective 臭い (くさい, 'stinky') with the nominalizing suffix み, which turns adjectives into nouns expressing a quality or degree.