‘Bau’ or ‘Wangi’
In Indonesian, there are a number of words that mean smell but the most popular ones are ‘bau’ and ‘wangi’. They can be used as both adjective and noun.
How are they different?
–
As an ADJECTIVE
When ‘bau’ is used to describe an object, it means that the object smells bad or stinks.
Example 1:
Rambut saya bau… 🙁
My hair smells bad/stinks
Example 2:
Durian itu bau sekali!
That durian smells really bad.
On the other hand, if ‘wangi’ is used to describe an object, it means that the object smells good or fragrant.
Example 3:
Wah, kamar kamu wangi sekali!
Wow, your room smells really good.
Example 4:
Rotinya wangi… Saya mau…
The bread smells good… I want (it)…
–
As a NOUN
As a noun, both ‘bau’ and ‘wangi’ means smell. Hence they can be used interchangeably.
Example 5:
Wah, durian ini baunya enak
or
Wah, durian ini wanginya enak
Wow, the smell of this durian is good.
If you wonder why the word ‘enak’ is used in the sentence above, read our previous explanation on using the word ‘enak’.
Final Note
‘Bau’ and ‘wangi’, as a noun, are often associated with particular nouns that already have a distinct smell.
Example 6:
Parfum ini wanginya tidak enak.
This perfume does not smell good.
‘Parfum’ is often associated with ‘wangi’. Although using ‘bau’ is totally fine too.
–
Example 7:
Ada banyak sampah yang belum dibuang di rumah. Baunya mengganggu saya.
There is a lot of garbage that has not been thrown away at home. The smell disturbs me.
‘Sampah’, which means garbage, is often associated with ‘bau’. Using ‘wangi’ to describe its smell will be a bit unusual.
Interestingly, for things such as ‘durian’, which is famous for its smell being relative (different people have different feeling towards the smell that it releases), both ‘bau’ and ‘wangi’ can be used to describe it and one can even get a hint of the speaker’s feeling towards ‘durian’ from the word that they choose to describe its smell. If the speaker uses ‘bau’, he/she might not really like durian’s smell. If the speaker uses ‘wangi’, he/she might actually like durian’s smell.
–
I hope you find the explanation above useful.
Have a question regarding this topic? Post your question below!
–
This actually replied my problem, thank you!
Hello , I do believe this is a superior website. I stumbled upon it on Yahoo
, I will come back once again.
You should participate in a competition for one of the finest websites on the internet.
I’m going to recommend this site!
Great info. Lucky me I reach on your own site by accident, I bookmarked it.
Really fine post, I surely adore this website, keep on it.