odour [ME] Today an odour (from Latin odor) tends to be an unpleasant smell, but in medieval times it was a sweet smell or perfume. This gives us the expression odour of sanctity [L17th] for a state of holiness—a sweet scent was supposedly given off by the bodies of saints when they were at or near death. To be in good odour (or in bad odour) with someone is to be in (or out of) favour with them, a use that has been around since the end of the 17th century.