especially: the smell of cooking or burning meat or fat
Word History
Etymology
Latin; akin to Old English hnītan to thrust, gore, knock, encounter, gehnǣst collision, battle, Old Norse hnīta to strike, hnita to weld, hnissa smell from cooking, unpleasant taste, Middle Irish cned wound, Greek knizein to scratch, tickle, tease, knisma scratch, knismos irritation, itching, knisa, knisē smell of burnt sacrifice, nidor, Latvian kniest to itch and to Latin ciner-, cinis ashes