Perfume has been used for millennia. According to Shannon Karppinen from the University of South Carolina, ancient civilizations like the Egyptians used perfume for various purposes, including preparing the dead for burial. Perfume has evolved since then and is now a multibillion-dollar industry.
Definition
Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary defines perfume as a substance that emits a pleasant odor.
Purpose
The purpose of perfume is to add scent to something--human, animal, object or air.
History
Perfume use in the form of scented oils, powders and incense dates back to ancient Egypt. Perfume as we know it today came into existence around the 19th century, according to Fashion Era.com, when chemically synthesized scents were substituted for hard-to-find organic scents.
Composition
According to Fashion Era.com, perfume is generally composed of 78 to 95 percent specially denatured ethyl alcohol, with the remainder made up of essential oils. Six scent categories are used to create modern-day perfumes: floral, oriental, floriental, chypre, green marine and fruit.
Types
Perfume types are based upon the concentration of essential oils found in the product. The types, in order from highest essential oil concentration to lowest, are perfume, eau de parfum, eau de toilet, eau de cologne and eau fraiche.